Household dangers

A seven-year-old boy was severely burned on Friday in Kampong Chhnang province’s Teuk Phos district, when his mother accidentally threw a bottle of gasoline at him while lighting a lamp, officials said yesterday.

Kbal Teuk commune police chief Chin Sim said that the boy’s mother Num En, 49, had tried to top up a lamp without first extinguishing the flame. He added that the mother became nervous and threw the bottle away and in the direction of her nearby son, who was sent to the provincial hospital with burns to his left hand, face and body.

Gasoline lamps are commonly used in villages that lack proper electricity and have previously lead to fatal accidents.

The Post reported last December that three teenage sisters in Prey Veng province’s Ba Phnom district were critically injured when a lit lamp they tried to pour gasoline into exploded.

Ken Ratha, program manager of EveryChild Cambodia, said this most recent case had likely resulted from negligence.

“In general, the community has not done well enough to raise awareness of the safety issues of gasoline lamps,” he said.

Chin Sim said that such incidents were rare in the commune and that villagers were generally alert, with commune and district authorities educating them on lamp and stove safety.

Soem Bunna, a doctor at Kampong Chhnang provincial hospital, said that the boy was out of danger, but that the burns would leave scarring on his face and stomach.