8-year-old child burned across 70% of body after gasoline canister ignites near bonfire in western Poland

The incident

Emergency services were alerted shortly before 9 p.m. on Friday, 12 June, to a serious accident in the village of Jarogniew (Gościno municipality, Kołobrzeg county) in Poland’s West Pomeranian Voivodeship. Three children were playing with gasoline canisters near an open fire when one of the containers ignited, splashing the eight-year-old with burning fuel.

“As a result of the ignition of one of the canisters, the eight-year-old child was doused with gasoline.”

The child suffered burns to approximately 70 percent of the body surface area, according to the preliminary findings cited by the provincial fire service.

Rescue operation

Two fire brigade units and an emergency medical team were dispatched to the scene. After initial treatment, the injured child was transported by ambulance to the “Zdroje” hospital in Szczecin, a regional facility equipped to handle severe burn cases. One of the other children reportedly fled the scene in fear but was later found by local services, likely volunteer firefighters, and was unharmed.

Investigation

Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the accident. The fire service spokesperson confirmed that the sequence of events remains under review, though initial accounts point to unsupervised play with flammable materials near a campfire.