AN 18-month-old girl may be scarred for life after a horrific fall face first into the glass door of a wood-burning stove.

The glass smashed into pieces, causing a 1.5-inch cut to Amelie Marsh’s forehead which needed 15 stitches.

Her dad Giles Marsh said: “My daughter suffered a 1.5-inch laceration to the middle of her forehead, and only an inch away from her eye.

“It was absolutely horrific, there was blood everywhere,” said the 39-year-old.

“Fortunately, Amelie stopped crying when we put a bandage around her head to stem the bleeding.”

The freak accident happened in the dining/kitchen area of the family’s three-bedroomed home in Prestbury Drive, Warminster, at 7pm when Amelie tripped over a Moses basket containing her five-day-old baby brother Bailey.

She was rushed to Salisbury District Hospital where medical staff cleaned and dressed the cut. Amelie went back the next day to have stitches.

Giles said: “She had to go under general anaesthetic to have 15 stitches, including some to the muscle. She will now have to live with the scar for the rest of her life. We’re hoping that she won’t be disfigured.

“The staff at Salisbury were absolutely amazing,” said Giles, who runs a graphic design firm in Frome.

He and his wife, Rosie, 38, have since complained to the stove manufacturer, Eurostove Ltd, of Rooksbridge in Somerset.

They bought the firm's Mendip Stoves wood burner for £1,500 three years ago from a supplier in Frome. The double sided stove has a glass door on each side, including one which faces the family’s living room.

Giles said: “It’s come as a horrific shock that the presumed toughened safety glass of our stove door could break in such a dangerous way.

“With so many people installing wood burners, I feel people need to be made aware of how dangerous this is.”

He added: “Mendip Stoves have said the glass is no different from an oven glass door, which is nonsense as oven doors use safety glass, and we should have had a fire guard.

“By that logic, we should have a fire guard around our oven at all times.

“I have since taken out all the broken glass and barricaded the fire so the children can’t get near it.”

Chris Baines, managing director of Eurostove Ltd, which makes the Mendip Stoves, said they source their glass from a European firm.

He said: “I have been in the business now for 17 years and I have never come across an accident like this before.

“It’s just a tragic accident and I am really sorry for what has happened to his child.

“Normally, glass breaks in stoves because of the expansion and contraction caused by heat, operating at temperatures around 600 degrees Centigrade. I feel absolutely gutted about what has happened.”

Mr Baines said there are only two suppliers of glass for stoves in the world, Schott AG in Germany and Nippon Electric Glass in Japan. There is not much choice. We use Schott, who are the largest supplier of glass for stoves in Europe.”