The "Hot Water Challenge" has left an Indianapolis teen with serious injuries after his friend threw scalding water over him while he was asleep last week.
The latest internet challenge, which dares youths to drink or throw hot water on unsuspecting people, has already claimed one life and caused dozens of others to suffer injuries, and 15-year-old Kyland Clark is now the latest victim of the dangerous prank, ABC7News.com reported.
The teen had been looking up the challenge on YouTube with an unidentified friend. Later, when he fell asleep, his friend decided to throw boiling water on him.
Clark told Fox59.com that he jumped up, tore of his shirt, and rushed to the bathroom. When he looked in the mirror, he saw the skin peeling off his chest and face.
The incident left him with second-degree burns to his back, chest, and face, and he was forced to spend a week in hospital.
"It could have been worse. My son could have died," his mother, Andrea Clark, said, according to ABC7.
Fortunately, doctors say the teen should make a full recovery, but he has used the experience to warn others against attempting similar challenges.
"There's a limit to what you should do in a challenge and what you shouldn't do. Don't take it overboard," Kyland Clark said.
The limit was tested last year with 8-year-old Florida resident Ki’ari Pope who unfortunately died from burn injuries sustained from the "Hot Water Challenge."
She and her cousins had been watching videos on YouTube and had come across footage of others participating in the challenge before Pope drank boiling water through a straw.
The young girl sustained multiple burn wounds to her mouth and throat, and she succumbed to her injuries almost three weeks later.
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