Bengaluru toddler dies of burns 10 days after falling into chemical bucket at copper factory

The 21-month-old suffered severe burns after falling into a bucket of hot chemical solution at a copper factory beside his home in Bengaluru.

A toddler died during treatment on Saturday after suffering severe burns when he fell into a bucket of hot chemical solution at a copper manufacturing unit next to his home in Bengaluru’s Srirampura on November 2. The accident, recorded on the factory’s CCTV cameras, occurred while the child was playing with his eight-year-old sister.

The toddler fell into a bucket of hot chemical solution while playing with his eight-year-old sister inside a copper factory in Srirampura.

The incident happened around 11 am at Shivam Copper Maker Factory in L.N. Puram. The children had entered the factory premises while playing, with the unit located immediately beside their house in Lakshminarayanapura.

CCTV footage shows a one-year-and-nine-month-old boy walking backwards before falling into a bucket containing the chemical solution. The container overturned, spilling its contents over him. His sister pulled him away and alerted factory personnel, who rushed to help.

“According to the CCTV footage, the toddler was walking backwards when he came into contact with a bucket containing the chemical solution and fell into it. The container overturned, spilling its contents over him. His elder sister pulled him away from the spot and alerted people at the factory, following which workers rushed to rescue him,” a senior police investigator said.

The boy was initially taken to a nearby hospital by residents and factory workers. He was later transferred to a private hospital on Sarjapur Road because of the severity of his injuries.

“Given the severity of his injuries, he was subsequently shifted to a private hospital on Sarjapur Road for advanced treatment. He remained in intensive care for nearly 10 days but could not recover,” the officer said.

Police said the bucket containing the chemical solution had been kept inside the factory premises.

The boy was the second child of Ramesh Kumar and his wife, both of whom work at private companies. His grandmother looked after the children while their parents were at work, police said.

After the boy’s death, Srirampura police registered an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) and began an investigation into the circumstances of the accident.