BOY, 12, LIGHTS HIMSELF ON FIRE IN SOCIAL MEDIA CHALLENGE

NEWYORK Police say a 12-yearold boy suffered severe burns in New York City when he doused himself in flammable liquids, lit a match and set himself on fire as part of a social media challenge.

Firefighters responded to a home in the Queens neighbourhood on Tuesday night and found the burned boy but no fire. The boy was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Police said the boy had been trying to perform the “fire challenge,” in which the object is to douse oneself in rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover near a bathtub or shower, then immediately put out the fire after it is lit. But the boy was unable to do so, resulting in third-degree burns on more than 40 per cent of his body.

Neighbours helped extinguish the fire by throwing water on him. The craze has been around for at least two years, as stories of teens across the U.S. burning themselves sprouted up at local news stations.