Hong Kong - A chronic smoker who has to use a ventilator to breathe was seriously ill in hospital Monday after blowing himself up by having a cigarette while using his oxygen tank.

The explosion happened as the 75-year-old man lit up in his home while attached to an oxygen tank that had plastic tubes running to his nose because of lung disease caused by his smoking habit.

Paramedics were called to his home in Hong Kong's Tai Po district after the explosion on Sunday and took him to the Prince of Wales Hospital with his face heavily bandaged.

A doctor quoted by Monday's South China Morning Post newspaper say the man knew he should not smoke while attached to his ventilator but apparently craved a cigarette so badly he took the risk. (dpa)