Seven-year-old in hospital drama afterdrinking nicotine

According to a report in the Larne Times, the child, from Thomas Street, drank the substance after mistaking it for lemonade.

The report said that the youngster had been offered lemonade by a workmate of his father’s.

The boy refused and said he would have some later.

He proceeded to climb into the cab of a lorry driven by his father and accompanied the men who were making a delivery to a farm in Islandmagee.

Whilst the cab was unoccupied, the child decided to have a drink.

The first bottle which came within reach contained nicotine which his father had intended to use as weedkiller.

On hearing the boy cry: “Daddy, Daddy”, his father rushed to the lorry and quickly realised what had happened.

The father said: “When I arrived, he was in a kind of a coma, frothing at the mouth. I realised he had drunk the nicotine thinking it was lemonade and lifted him from the cab.”

The child was rushed to Carrick Hospital where he had his stomach pumped to remove the poison.