Boy suffers serious burns at Christmas event at Croydon church

11 December 2019, 16:58

By Nick Hardinges

@NHardinges

A boy has been rushed to hospital after suffering serious burns during a Christmas event at a church in Croydon.

Police were alerted to the incident at the Our Lady of the Annunciation Church by London Ambulance Service at 2:21pm today.

One adult also suffered burns which police said were not serious.

The child was taken to hospital by air ambulance and his next of kin have been informed, police said.

A woman at the church told LBC News today that the incident occurred during a rehearsal for one of their nativity events.

“It was a little boy. It was while our Christmas programme was going on. The children were using candles," she said.

“They were having the programme and a nativity scene was about to take place. All the children were dressed up in different costumes, the children were all holding candles.

“Fire extinguishers and water were ready in the church and everyone acted very quickly. The boy was taken away in the air ambulance to hospital. It all happened in around 15-20 minutes.”

A London Ambulance Service spokeswoman said: "We were called at 2:10pm today (11 December) to reports of an incident on Bingham Road, Croydon.

"We dispatched two ambulance crews, an emergency responder, a medic in a car and an incident response officer to the scene. We also dispatched a trauma team from London's Air Ambulance.

"We treated three people at the scene for burns including a child, a man and a woman. We took the child to hospital by air and we took the man and the woman to hospital by road."

London Fire Brigade and Health and Safety Executive have also been informed.

Enquiries are ongoing.