This is the shocking moment a shopkeeper cut into a watermelon only for the fruit to squirt water in her face.

CCTV footage shows the female employee slicing the melon in half with a sharp knife on a counter at a grocery store in Anhui, China.

As the blade penetrated the green-striped rind, water suddenly burst out from inside on July 30.

The startled woman quickly moved the massive, overripe fruit off the table and threw it into the trash bin.

The store owner said: 'Due to the high moisture content of these watermelons, combined with recent extreme heat, the internal flesh had fermented and built up pressure inside.

'The gas trapped in the fruit forced the liquid out. This is also why we don't store this type of watermelon for more than five days.'

Experts said that watermelons have a high-water content of about 92 per cent, which can ferment and produce gas if the fruit is overripe or stored improperly.