Boy drinks acid; burns abdomen, food pipe

The child thought the acid was actually water and drank from the bottle.

A four-year-old boy who nearly lost his life after accidentally consuming acid is finally hale and hearty.

Rajveer Kanojia, a kindergarten student, was travelling with his parents on a pilgrimage earlier this year when the driver of the car -- who was working on the car battery -- placed a bottle of concentrated sulphuric acid on the table.

The boy drank around 15 ml of the liquid thinking it was water, the Times of India reported.

"Rajveer was brought to hospital with brutal injuries to the abdomen and food pipe. Though conscious, the boy was dehydrated and his condition was life-threatening," Times of India quoted Dr Lalit Verma, consultant paediatric gastroenterologist, Wockhardt Hospital, Mira Road, as saying.

The child started coughing and vomiting blood as soon as he drank the liquid. Thankfully, his father was nearby and snatched the bottle away from him.

"Fortunately his respiratory track was not affected," said Dr Verma.

"While food intake through the mouth was stopped completely, a gastro-jejunal feeding tube was placed in the small intestine through laparoscopy on day three and liquid food was given," the doctor said.

• India