Burns toddler still ‘critical’ after Harryville incident

THE toddler who was seriously burned in an incident in Harryville on Friday afternoon remains in a ‘critical’ condition.

The youngster, who is understood to attend the local primary school, is in the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Further details and eye-witness accounts of the horrific scene have emerged over the weekend and, while speculation over the cause of the incident has been aired widely in the media and social networking sites, both PSNI and Fire and Rescue have simply stated that their investigations are continuing.

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One theory is that the boy might have been handling an aerosol close to a lighted candle.

It is understood he ran outside with his clothes blazing and was helped by passers by.

Carol Moody, who works in the chip shop close to the toddler’s house, provided buckets of water to help extinguish the flames.

“There was a man driving up and he saw a wee boy running along with clothes on fire,” she said. “There was another woman who had been walking up and who tried to put the flames out. There were other people about too who helped.It is terrible. We hope that he is going to be okay.”

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Wesley Luke, who lives near to the scene, was among the first to react: “I saw a woman trying to the flames out with her hands, she was rolling him around on a patch of wet grass. The wee lad was just shouting and screaming.

“A lorry driver also pulled over and jumped out of the cab to try and help. I brought out a basin of water and a cloth to try and cool the boy down until the emergency services arrived.”

John McPoland, a spokesman for Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, said: “We got the call at about 2.30pm of an infant running about with his clothes on fire. An ambulance crew were there within five minutes and with the assistance of the PSNI have taken the boy to hospital for treatment to severe burns.”

In a statement the PSNI said they were investigating the circumstances of the fire and have called for any witnesses to come forward.