Toddler Rudy suffers burns to his hands from buried barbecue

21-month-old thought it was a sandcastle on beach

ATODDLER faces months of painful physiotherapy and could lose some movement in his hands after suffering horrific burns from a disposable barbecue buried on a Gwynedd beach.

Little Rudy Haslam, who is 21 months old, has about 40 blisters on his hands after trying to knock down what he thought was a sandcastle on Porth Iago beach near Aberdaron, but was in fact a crude attempt to cover the barbecue with sand.

Dad Joe said his son looked like he had put his hands in a bucket of acid and, when his older brothers Mackenzie, 15, and Sam, 13, threw water on the barbecue, it fizzed, spluttered and steamed “like a volcano”.

He said there was no one else on the beach when they arrived with another family at lunchtime on Saturday, but they had passed a young couple walking towards their car.

“We had been there for about half an hour putting up the wind breaks and the like,” said Joe.

“I had taken the older children rockpooling while my wife Joanne and her friend looked after the smaller ones.

“Then I heard a loud scream and Rudy was holding his hands, which were covered in hot ash.

“When it was knocked off, the ash burnt holes in the deck chairs.

“We called 999 straight away and were told the nearest hospital was at Pwllheli so we took him there.”

The family, who said Porth Iago and nearby Porthoer are their favourite beaches when they visit the Aberdaron area,

used the cold drinks bottles they had brought with them to try and keep Rudy’s hands cool during the journey to Ysbyty Bryn Beryl.

The toddler was examined and bandaged up and, when they returned home to Warrington, Rudy was referred by his doctor to the A&E department at the local hospital, where doctors referred him to Alder Hey in Liverpool.

“The doctors there gave him pain killers and set about lancing each blister and treating the burns,” said his father.

“There were blisters on all his fingers and on the palms of both hands.

“We were shocked to learn it would take six to eight months to fully clear up and even then we have been warned he may lose some of the functioning of his hands due to depth and coverage of the burns.”

Rudy was due to return to hospital to have the dressings changed.

His dad said: “We had checked the area for dog poo and glass, but we never thought of checking for a buried barbecue which was still red hot.

“There was no way of knowing it was there.”

He said that whoever had left it there should have made sure it was properly extinguished before they left the beach.

North Wales Fire Service have published advice for using all kinds of barbecues.

Referring to disposable barbecues, a spokeswoman said: “If you’re using a disposable barbecue, ensure it has cooled before putting it in the bin.

“To avoid starting a fire, you should allow it to cool for several hours and then consider pouring water over it to make sure it’s out.”