UK - Preston Flores, 7, dies after set ablaze by playmates, Aberdeen, 18 April 2014

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zwiebel

zwiebel

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A 7 year old boy has been found on fire in Bedford Street in Aberdeen, Scotland. He is in a serious condition in hospital.

The article here reports allegations from neighbours that the boy had been soaked in petrol (gas) taken from a van and deliberately set on fire - possibly by playmates too young to know what they were doing?
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/aberdeen-family-horror-after-boy-3429158

This article just says police have declined to say if they are treating this as a criminal matter.
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-27079568

Here police just confirm the incident involved petrol.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...s-seriously-burned-in-petrol-blaze.1397834808
 
How old were the other kids? One article says they were just "playing" around, but it wouldn't surprise me if they were bullying him. Why was he the one who got the petrol thrown on him? And another thing is, if they lit the match, they must have known that something was going to happen. They aren't completely naive. There were things that had to happen for this horrible thing to occur.

And why do these kids have matches in the first place? There will probably be a "coverup" too, since the parents and other relatives will want to protect their precious ones.
 
Police have said there 'is no evidence so far' of a 'deliberate act' but have also refused to be drawn on whether this is a criminal matter. They've just promised a 'full and thorough' investigation.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-27086246

There are eyewitnesses in the video linked above, but they just saw the aftermath of Little Preston Flores screaming and burning. It must have been quite, quite horrific. Mom Luisza (orginally from Spain) had popped to the store and when she returned and saw her little boy, she collapsed and had to be taken to hospital with him.

It seems the unnamed neighbour who spoke to the media in the article linked below, and says she saw a a group of children jump on the back of a local authority truck and 'search for something', is probably a very important witness. It seems to me that the questions of how the fuel got onto Preston, and who lit a flame (and their age) are very important.

I wonder if that fuel was kept for a lawnmower, for someone cutting the grass around the apartment block?

The next two weeks are likely to be crucial for this little boy, and then it is going to be a very, very tough, long journey for the poor little mite. My heart goes out to him.

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/aberdeen-boy-preston-flores-7-3430933
 

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zwiebel said:
Little Preston has been moved to an intensive care unit in Edinburgh. He's in critical condition. :(

I hope he makes it. Please.
Click to expand...

There are worse things than death, being severely burned could easily be one of them.
 
Oh my god.
How awful!

My neighbors son and his friend one day pouring gas on the stones in the driveway, then hitting the gas soaked rocks with golf clubs to make sparks.

Her sons jeans and shoes were accidentally soaked somehow in the process.

He hit the rocks, sparks, ignited himself. She and I were sitting on her kitchen when he came running in the back door. He looked like something out of a cartoon, his jeans were in tatters, his hair and eyebrows were all singed. His lips swelled up. His friend got so scared watching him burst into flames, he ran home and said nothing.

All on all... He was a very very lucky boy that day.


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Linda7NJ said:
Oh my god.
How awful!

My neighbors son and his friend one day pouring gas on the stones in the driveway, then hitting the gas soaked rocks with golf clubs to make sparks.

Her sons jeans and shoes were accidentally soaked somehow in the process.

He hit the rocks, sparks, ignited himself. She and I were sitting on her kitchen when he came running in the back door. He looked like something out of a cartoon, his jeans were in tatters, his hair and eyebrows were all singed. His lips swelled up. His friend got so scared watching him burst into flames, he ran home and said nothing.

All on all... He was a very very lucky boy that day.


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Click to expand...

Linda7NJ, that must have been so shocking. I hope he recovered okay.

All the media reports say neighbors rushed out to pour water on poor little Preston - but that doesn't put gas flames out, you need a blanket, and to roll the victim. It's said he got up and ran too....about the worst thing that can happen, as it feeds the flames. I think his injuries must be so, so severe.

As a child, I was in hospital with a badly burnt toddler who eventually succumbed to her wounds. I've never forgotten it.

I am puzzled about the petrol container - was it just left in the open back of a truck bed? I'm not sure that's legal in England.

*Just a note. My friend was also badly burned when she tried to put out a house fire (caused by a hot oilpan) with water. She had no idea it would make the burning oil splatter and spread. :(
 
I don't know if he can make it - he has burns to 85% of his body and I think that makes Preston's chances of survival very, very low.

Grandmother says surgeons have opened up his arm and side to relieve the fluid-build up, and that she blames local authorities for leaving their truck unlocked and the fuel accessible.

Preston's playmates were his cousins age 6 and 9.

Another (older?) cousin had seen the children jump into the truck once, and warned them to stay out of it.

http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotla...to-blame-for-burned-boy-grandmother-1-3382551

For US readers - a 'van' in the UK does not refer to one of those family vehicles called a van in the US. In the UK it means something like a mail delivery van. I don't know what it's called in the US though. They don't have an open top, and usually have double doors at the back.
 
OMG. Preston's older brother Leroy suffered burns too, when he fell in a bonfire in a completely separate incident.
 
a six and nine year old might not understand the consequences of their actions (probable death) but they sure as heck know that whatever they did was going to cause fire and major pain and they should have the moral aptitude to reason that it's not right to hurt someone in that manner

why weren't a six, seven, and nine year old being supervised anyway? was the mother watching all three when she went to the store or did she leave them in the care of someone else?

sending healing thoughts to Preston - hopefully it's not as bad as we think
 
zwiebel said:
I don't know if he can make it - he has burns to 85% of his body and I think that makes Preston's chances of survival very, very low.
Click to expand...

In scotland, maybe not. However in the US/Canada children between the ages of 5 and 20 can quite often 'survive' burns to 99% of their bodies. At least 1% or the size of their palm needs to be left over to grow new skin.

This chart the chances of survival based on age and how much of their body is burned.

I don't know if this is local for you Zweibel, but the Shriners have a few hospitals that treat burns in the US and they do admit children from other countries.

The most critical thing right now for him, is if he inhaled the flames, not so much that 85% of him was burned.

* I had a huge obsession about burns and nearly every aspect that goes along with it for quite a long while.

Scotland has a summer camp for burned children: http://theburnsclub.org.uk/
 
buffetoflies said:
In scotland, maybe not. However in the US/Canada children between the ages of 5 and 20 can quite often 'survive' burns to 99% of their bodies. At least 1% or the size of their palm needs to be left over to grow new skin.



This chart the chances of survival based on age and how much of their body is burned.



I don't know if this is local for you Zweibel, but the Shriners have a few hospitals that treat burns in the US and they do admit children from other countries.



The most critical thing right now for him, is if he inhaled the flames, not so much that 85% of him was burned.



* I had a huge obsession about burns and nearly every aspect that goes along with it for quite a long while.



Scotland has a summer camp for burned children: http://theburnsclub.org.uk/
Click to expand...


I always thought that infection was the biggest hurdle in cases such as this one (with a large percentage of burns to his body.)?





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My god, this is horrific. That poor little boy. That poor family.
 
:(.

Groan....I hope he passed peacefully and wasn't in any pain


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