A one-year-old boy has died after he ingested caustic soda while his nan left him alone briefly to clean the doorstep.

Asaf Miguel Coutinho Oliveira, aged 1 year and 3 months, died after accidentally ingesting the corrosive substance at his grandmother’s home in the municipality of Pitangueiras, which is located in the south-eastern Brazilian state of Sao Paulo.

The youngster had only been left alone for a brief moment while his grandmother went to clean the pavement outside her home.

However, it was enough time for him to ingest the caustic soda, also called sodium hydroxide or lye. It is not clear if the corrosive substance, which is used in detergents and as a drain cleaner and which can cause severe chemical burns, was in liquid or pearl form.

Police spokesman Claudio Messias Alves said the youngster was taken to hospital, but his condition worsened, so he was transferred to another health facility in the municipality of Ribeirao Preto. However, he succumbed to his injuries, on Sunday, 6th March.

His body was taken for a post-mortem, which gave the potential causes of death as accidental ingestion of caustic soda, acute respiratory failure due to injury to the upper airways and glottis, aspiration pneumonia and septic shock.

The toddler’s wake took place in Pitangueiras on the afternoon of Monday, 7th March, with the burial taking place afterwards.

The case was registered as a suspicious death and it is being investigated by the Civil Police (Brazil’s investigative police force) of Pitangueiras.

The case resembles that of the two siblings who died after drinking caustic soda, with the three-year-old boy mistaking the liquid for a fizzy drink and his 13-year-old sister ingesting it after feeling guilty for leaving the bottle out on the table.

That incident took place in the municipality of Santo Amaro, which is located in the north-eastern Brazilian state of Bahia, on Monday, 6th December, last year.