A young Coral Springs baby is fighting for his life this morning after he was badly burned by boiling oil from a deep fryer in his home.
The boy, just 13 months old, was taken by helicopter to Broward Medical Center around 9 p.m. last night after he pulled on the deep fryer's cord, covering himself with boiling oil from head to torso.
The boy has burns on over 60 percent of his body, authorities said.
Neighbor Marie Breval heard the boy's mother screaming and offered help.
"I was in my bedroom and I heard a scream," said Breval, a nursing student. "I went out and I saw her, she was running hysterical with the child so I grabbed the child and said 'What happened,' so I checked the child and the child was soaking and I had to calm her down."
Breval said the injuries were horrific.
"Part of the epidermis, the upper layer, was taken off [his face]," Breval said.
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Alex Gonzalez, who was visiting a friend nearby, witnessed the aftermath.
"I've never seen anything like that," Gonzalez said. "What went through my head was like wow, a burnt baby, that was traumatizing."
Doctors are still working to save the toddler, and Coral Springs police are still investigating the incident, though they believe it's just a freak accident.
"I had to come out to see what happened," Breval said. "You can never be too careful with children, they will always pull out something."
