This is the moment a Turkish teenager douses his friend with hand sanitiser and sets him on fire as a ‘joke’ that went badly wrong.
The incident took place in a park in the district of Yildirim in the north-western Turkish province of Bursa on 10th December.
Burak Altun, 14, and his friend Ismail K., 13, allegedly stole bottles of hand sanitiser from a nearby vocational school that produces disinfectant.
Later, the two friends, along with some other teens, went to the park and started playing around with the sanitiser.
As seen in the CCTV footage, Ismail K. pours the liquid on Altun and sets him on fire with a lighter, possibly not realising it was going to turn his friend into a huge fireball.
The video shows Altun running around and throwing himself on the ground in a failed bid to extinguish the flames.
The boy was taken to the Bursa City Hospital by ambulance with severe burns to his body.
However, after two weeks of intensive care, the teen succumbed to his injuries on 26th December.
Ismail K., who was detained after the incident and released after giving a statement, was arrested again after Altun’s death.
He reportedly told the police that the incident was a prank and he did not intend to hurt or kill his friend.
However, in the court of public opinion, netizens believed that such an incident could not have been a prank, and called on the teen to be punished to the maximum extent of the law.
Netizen ‘Ashirogi Muto’ wrote: “There is no such thing as a joke. Anyone who pours alcohol over something and then lights it knows it will cause a fire. Have you ever seen someone trying to light something in water? No, because everyone knows it won’t work. That kid used his lighter on purpose. He should get an aggravated life sentence for ‘killing by torture’!”
‘Natramn’ commented: “Is this boy related to Hitler? Is that a joke? When did burning someone become funny?”