A four-year-old girl has narrowly avoided having both her legs amputated after her stepmother allegedly burnt her with boiling water.

The young girl, who goes by the nickname Yanyan, is said to usually live with her grandfather in a village in Longli County, in Guizhou Province, in southern China.

But after she was admitted to hospital in a critical condition, it was revealed that she had last been staying with her father and his girlfriend.

Yanyan is now said to be in a slightly better state, having undergone two operations after she was admitted to hospital on 9th January.

She was first admitted with a serious infection caused by burns and multiple other injuries all over her body after her grandfather discovered that she had allegedly been abused.

Her grandfather, who has not been named, also called the police after noticing the injuries on the youngster’s body.

Doctors were reportedly only narrowly able to avoid having to amputate both her legs due to the severity of her injuries.

Yanyan was also suffering from other ailments including pneumonia and upper gastrointestinal bleeding.

Her uncle, who has not been named, said: “Yanyan lived with them for just two months. When Grandpa visited her the other day, he found there were large scald marks on her body. The child told him her father’s girlfriend had attacked her with boiling water.”

Members of the public have given over RMB 350,000 (GBP 30,000; USD 55,000) in donations towards her treatment after her family launched a crowdfunding campaign last week.

The father and his girlfriend, reportedly both surnamed Zhang, were detained by the police after they were alerted to the incident by the young girl’s grandfather. The father was arrested for having allegedly failed to stop his partner from harming his child.

It is currently unclear if the couple has been formally charged and what penalties they may face.