Internet dare leads to rise in burns victims

AN NHS trust has warned that a growing number of teenagers are putting their lives at risk by setting themselves on fire following an increase in burns admissions at a hospital.

Medics at Morriston Hospital in Swansea, south Wales, have reported a rise in the number of young people being seen at A&E after attempting the so-called “fire challenge”.

The dangerous internet craze originated in the US in 2012 after a Youtube star, known as 1Blazineagle1, uploaded a video of him lighting his chest hair on fire. It amassed more than 100,000 views and inspired hundreds of copycat episodes from teenagers seemingly desperate to replicate similar audience figures.

Ana Biney, a staff nurse in Morriston’s Welsh Centre for Burns and Plastic Surgery, said their ward was seeing more youngsters admitted for the injuries and blamed the influence of social media. The hospital was unable to provide exact figures on the number of young people treated for burns.

Jeremy Yarrow, a plastic surgeon at Morriston Hospital, said: “I can understand there is pressure on young people to gain acceptance or boost their online profiles by doing such risky things as these challenges.

“But from the patients I see, the results can be very different, with some requiring life-support treatment and many left with lifelong scars.”

Will Gardner, the chief executive of internet safety charity Childnet, said: “What we really need to do is raise awareness in young people of critical thinking and empower children not to bow to peer pressure.”