A federal judge has told a Nigerian man that he is charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines plane on Christmas Day.

U.S. District Judge Paul Borman read 23-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab (OO-mahr fah-ROOK ahb-DOOL-moo-TAH-lahb) his charges in a conference room on Saturday at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, where he is being treated for burns.

Agents brought Abdulmutallab into the room in a wheelchair. He had a blanket over his lap and wore a green hospital robe.

The judge asked Abdulmutallab if he understood the charges against him. He responded in English: "Yes, I do."

The government accuses him of bringing an explosive device onto Flight 253, but as the plane neared Detroit's airport, it sparked a fire instead of an explosion.