A 16 year-old boy North Carolina boy has been disfigur£d and is ‘unrecognizable’ after taking part in a TikTok challenge which sees a light£r and spray can used to create a makeshift blowtorch.
Football star Mason Dark and his friends were attempting the trend this past Sunday when he nearly lost his lif£ after the can of spray paint he was holding explod£d with a huge bang.
Mason’s family recalled hearing a ‘boom’ at their home moments before they saw the teenager rush outside and jump into the lake with 75 percent of his body b¥rn£d.
“He’s unrecognizable. Unrecognizable,” his mother, Holli Dark, told WRAL “They all heard a big boom. And then Mason came running out and started taking off his shirt,” Dark said.
Mason hopped into a nearby river to soothe the b¥rns, but emerged with charred skin. Both moves ended up worsening his condition: it is reported that the teenager s¥ffered a T-shaped third-degree b¥rn on his back from ripping off the flaming shift, and is at high risk of inf£ction from the river water.
“He was rushed to the UNC B¥rn Center with b¥rns covering 76% of his body, his mother said. “The way he looked when those kids saw him when he first came in, to what he looks like now, it’s 100 times different,” said Dark. The teenager, who is a very active football player and track runner, is expected to spend the next six months at the b¥rn centre.