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Goldsboro children badly burned while roasting marshmallows

A brother and sister are in the hospital with severe burns after an accident when attempting to roast marshmallows in their Goldsboro home. The injuries were so serious, the siblings had to be airlifted to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Health Care in Chapel Hill.

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GOLDSBORO, N.C. — A brother and sister are in the hospital with severe burns after an accident when attempting to roast marshmallows in their Goldsboro home. The injuries were so serious, the siblings had to be airlifted to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Health Care in Chapel Hill.

They were using a lighter, a pan and rubbing alcohol. Within seconds, the 8-year-old and 12-year-old were consumed in flames. Originally taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital, they were later flown in separate helicopters to UNC.

Montrael Williams said he and his siblings wanted to roast marshmallows on the cold Saturday afternoon.

"The bottle went flying the other way and then the juice, or the alcohol went flying toward my brother and sister and they caught on fire," he said. "I didn't catch on fire because I was at the corner of the table."

As mother Lashandra Moore helped her daughter, she didn't realize her son was outside still on fire. Thankfully a neighbor saw him and stopped to help, but his injuries were already severe.

"When I turned and looked I just saw my daughter and she was on fire. and i ran and slid, to the water bottle out," she said."Jaylen's eyes were burned so badly, they were blue and grey, and he couldn't see."

"My dad he was talking to me in the family room about how I shouldn't have been messing with fire," Williams said. "When we were walking out of the hospital getting ready to come back here, I made a promise to myself that I was never going to mess with lighters or fire again because I learned my lesson."

Firefighters said that rubbing alcohol burns clear, so the children likely did not realize the flame was burning. The children are being treated, and the family now waits for news on the recovery process.

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