A MOTHER-OF-THREE turned into a 'human fireball' after her loose top caught fire as she cooked dinner for her family.

Amanda Clarke has been left with third degree burns after part of her polyester and cotton garment came into contact with the flame on her gas hob.

Within a split second the top was engulfed in flames, forcing the 34-year-old to rip it off to get it over her head.

She threw the blazing shirt into the back garden and put a wet tea towel on her body to cool the burns before calling 999.

She was rushed to a specialist burns hospital where she spent a week being treated for serious burns to her right arm and chest. She also burnt her eyeballs and singed her hair.

Amanda, a trained chef from Tuckton, will have to undergo skin grafts in the future and will be left with permanent scars.

Amanda said: “I just can’t believe how quickly it happened.

“It’s the kind of thing you never think will happen to you, but it’s so easily done.

“I was in horrendous pain and completely in shock.”

The family had just returned from a two-week holiday in Thailand and Amanda was cooking a Thai curry and chicken satay when the accident happened on April 11.

She is not exactly sure what happened but believes a baggy part of the top came into contact with the flame.

She tried to pat the flames out with her hands but became overwhelmed by them.

Her husband Tom, a 34-year-old construction planner, was at work at the time but their three sons witnessed the horrific incident and heard her screams.

Amanda said: “I was cooking dinner when I suddenly felt hot and thought ‘what’s that?’ so I looked down and the front of my top was on fire.

“I had nothing to put it out with so I started patting it with my hands.

“But that didn’t work and it was getting hotter and hotter.

“I just thought ‘I’ve got to get it off’. I managed to singe my hair and chucked the top on the floor.

“The top was still on fire on the floor so I had to pick it up again and chuck it out the back door.

“I thought there was a bit of clothing stuck to me and pulled it off not realising it was actually my skin.

“I burnt my eyeballs too, I had to have an eye test and a dye put in my eyes. There was some damage but nothing permanent.

“The hospital have said I probably will need a skin graft operation but there will always be scarring.

“It could have been a lot worse, I’ve probably come off quite lightly, but I’ve never experienced pain like it.”

Amanda was treated at Salisbury District Hospital and has to go back every few days to have her dressings replaced. She has also been offered counselling for the traumatic ordeal.