Social media stunt: 12-year-old boy pours boiling water on sleeping younger brother; prank goes wrong

Time of India

4 days ago

In a startling incident, a nine-year-old boy was left with severe burns after his 12-year-old brother poured hot water on him while he slept, as part of a social media stunt.
According to the Lancaster Township Police Department, the older brother boiled water in a microwave before dousing his younger sibling to perform "Hot Water Challenge" on July 29.
The younger brother, who suffered severe burns to his neck and chest, was sent to Lehigh Burn Centre in Allentown for urgent treatment.
The Hot Water Challenge is a dangerous social media prank stunt that involves people drinking or pouring scalding water on themselves or someone else.
The 12-year-old has been arrested, charged with aggravated assault and slapped with recklessly endangering his brother; meanwhile, the parents are being pressed to monitor their children's online activity.
This is not the first time that a child has endangered someone else while performing a sick social media stunt. In past, several teens and children suffered severe injuries, permanent scars due to "Hot Water Challenge."
Earlier in 2018, a boy from Indianapolis pulled the same prank on his friend who was sleeping. The 15-year-old boy suffered second-degree burns on his back, chest, and face due to this incident.
The boys reportedly saw this stunt on YouTube and wanted to try it.
"My skin just fell off my chest, and then I looked in the mirror and I had skin falling off here and on my face," Kyland Clark told WXIN.
In 2017, an 8-year-old girl died after she drank boiling water through a straw after a cousin dared her.