Updated

A British hairdresser died after her cigarette ignited a leaking bottle of hydrogen peroxide bleach which then blew up in her car as she drove along a quiet country lane, the Bournemouth Echo reported Thursday.

Jennie Mitchell's grieving father Bob urged hairdressers to show extreme caution when carrying the hydrogen peroxide, a powerful bleach used to lighten hair when mixed with ammonia.

"The hydrogen peroxide had ventilated in the car. She opened the window, which introduced oxygen," he said.

"Jennie was a smoker and it’s likely that she lit or had a lit a cigarette.

“Until the accident, nobody knew this could happen. We keep saying, you couldn’t have written this in a script.”

"We want to warn people how volatile hydrogen peroxide is, even if it is kept in the boot of a car. Jennie’s friends have all said they carry it," added her mother Pauline Mitchell.

An inquest into the 19-year-old's death was opened in Dorset, southern England on Tuesday and is expected to resume in three months.