12-year-old Kerala boy dies aping hair-straightening act in social media

Thiruvananthapuram, March 24

A 12-year-old boy died of burns he sustained while reportedly trying to imitate a hair-straightening act shown in the social media, police said on Wednesday.

The deceased was Sivanarayanan of Venganoor near here.

The seventh standard school student on Tuesday reportedly applied kerosene to his hair and tried to straighten it with a lit matchstick, the police said.

Videos of people straightening hair using spirit and fire had gone viral in the social media. The boy, said to be a social media addict, was taken to hospital. He died today, the police said.

Only his grandmother was at home when he tried the act in the bathroom, they said. — PTI