Mother claims her babies burst into flame
A mother who alleged her first baby repeatedly burst into flames has claimed her newborn has also ‘spontaneously combusted’.
K. Rajeswari, 23, rushed her nine-day-old baby to an emergency room in Chennai, India after he allegedly caught fire in her home. The baby boy suffered burns to five per cent of his feet and will remain in hospital for a month.
The distraught mother told The Hindu newspaper she returned from the bathroom to find her baby on fire.
“I had gone to use the bathroom which is just behind the house. When I was coming back, I heard my baby screaming and ran in to find his feet on fire. I quickly doused him with water and rushed to the local hospital” Rajeswari said.
Surveillance cameras in the neonatal ward of the Kilpauk Medical College will monitor both mother and baby amid suspicion that the burns may have been deliberately inflicted.
This is not the first time Rajeswari has had a child treated for burns. In 2013 she claimed her eldest son burst into flames four times in the first few months after his birth. The baby boy suffered burns to his head, chest and thighs.
When news of the ‘burning baby’ broke in India, Rajeswari and her family were run out of their town by suspicious neighbours. The couple and their children were also rejected by Rajeswari’s husband’s family.
Doctors in India ran extensive tests to determine whether the baby was producing flammable gases that may have led to the fires but found no evidence to support this theory.
Other local authorities believed the baby had been exposed to highly flammable phosphorous, which had cause several house fires in the family’s village in 2004.
The spontaneous combustions eventually stopped when doctors prescribed keeping the baby cool and hydrated.
It is unknown whether the young parents followed the same advice for their newborn.
Morning news break – January 20
