A five-year-old boy was left with horrendous burns after he stepped on a smouldering fire pit at the beach.
Little Oliver Briggs was at a beach in Bournemouth with his family when he accidentally stood on a fire pit, which had been buried in the sand and abandoned.
Poor Oliver was left screaming out in agony as his terrified mum Kristina Willmore ran with him into the sea to try and cool the burn down.
The boy was rushed to a nearby hospital and later transferred to a specialist burns unit at Salisbury District Hospital in Wiltshire.
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The sole of his right foot had been left with severe blisters, so doctors had to cut off the blistered skin and wrap the poor youngster's feet in bandages.
He has since been discharged from hospital but is still unable to put any weight on his right foot.
His mum is now speaking out to warn others about the dangers of leaving fires on the beach.
Kristina said: "He was on the beach and walked towards the toilets and I just heard him screaming the place down.
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"I don't know if it was mother's intuition or something, but I just knew instantly what he had done.
"I grabbed him and carried him into the sea and held him there for around half an hour.
"We later got a taxi to hospital and it was just horrible to see how his foot looked.
"Thankfully the specialists said he narrowly avoided soft tissue damage.
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"He should make a full recovery, but I can't let him go back to school until he can walk to the toilet on his own."
She added: "I appreciate people like to have barbecues and fires on the beach and that's fine but people need to be more careful.
"If people are leaving the beach they should put them out because something like this could easily happen again.
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"I'm not saying they should be banned but I do think there should be a separate area for barbecues to keep people safe."
A spokesperson for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council reiterated the point and urged beachgoers not to leave behind open fires or barbecues behind.
Lews Alison, cabinet portfolio holder for tourism leisure and communities, said: "We want everyone to able to enjoy our beautiful beaches safely and encourage the public not to use them for open fires.
"We also want to highlight the dangers of covering over barbecues and fires with sand as this retains the heat and makes them harder to detect.
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"If people do use disposable barbecues then we ask they are left on the edge of the sea wall to allow them to cool down and be collected by the cleansing team."
Featured Image Credit: BNPS Media
Topics: uk news