A young boy is in a critical condition in hospital after being found “on fire” after an incident involving petrol on a street in Aberdeen, police say.
Seven-year-old Preston Flores has been moved into a specialist unit after being transferred from Aberdeen to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh overnight, officers confirmed.
It was reported that petrol could have been involved in the incident, but police investigating the circumstances surrounding it insisted that there was no evidence at the moment suggesting it was the result of a “deliberate act”.
The boy’s neighbours found him in the street at around 2pm on Friday. The BBC reported that he was seen running between two blocks of flats. Eyewitness Victoria-Jayne Pirie said Preston was on fire from the neck downwards and his clothes were sticking to him.
I ran out and saw him running up the street in flames, they were covering his whole body Relative of Preston Flores
“We had heard him screaming and he had been lying on the floor, basically just trying to get himself calm, but nothing was working and he just ran up the back garden, screaming and crying. It was just horrid,” she told STV News.
A relative, who did not want to be named, said that neighbours put the fire out by dousing Preston with water. According to reports, the family member said: “I’ve never seen anything so horrible in my whole life. I ran out and saw him running up the street in flames, they were covering his whole body. His clothes were half burnt off him and half sticking to him. It was awful. I was in floods of tears.”
The relative added: “I was in my house getting ready and my cousin banged on my door shouting ‘He’s on fire, he’s on fire’. Around 40 people ran out of their flats and started chucking water on him. His mum collapsed when she found out and she needed to be taken in the same ambulance for oxygen.”
Chief inspector Nick Topping, the local Police Scotland area commander, said that the investigation into the “tragic incident” would continue on Saturday.
He added that members of the local community have told police that the petrol may have come from a council van, but could not elaborate.
“We are grateful for the continued assistance we have received from the local community to help us piece together the events leading up to this incident. We have spoken to a number of residents about what they saw or heard which has been very helpful and important to our inquiry,” he said. He appealed for witnesses to call 101.
Aberdeen City Council could not be reached for comment.