US boy, 12, burned after TikTok challenge goes wrong

The victim was identified as Caden Ballard.

According to local media reports, Ballard and his brother were scrolling TikTok when they came across a challenge which they wanted to perform.

Ballard told KXAN that they grabbed the materials and thought the experiment went well, until it did not.

“You basically take some rubbing alcohol and you put it into a bottle, and then you light it on fire, and the fire shoots up the bottle. I did that. My brother and I did that, and it was cool,” Ballard told the news channel.

“It looked like the fire had gone out. So, my brother grabbed and said, ‘Here, throw it away.’ So, I grabbed it to throw it in the trash can, [and] my shirt was on fire.”

Caden’s mom, Christina, said she was on the other side of the house when the incident happened.

“When I walked up to the porch, he was just face, chest, arms, stomach covered in burns. It looked like his skin had been melted away,” Christina told KXAN.

“They like to listen to the story times on TikTok, you know, the Reddit stories. So I never expected things to go the way they went.”

Caden Ballard's brother showed his presence of mind minimise the damage.

Caden’s mom has now advised parents to have a tough conversation with their children about performing online challenges.