Two days ago, there was news about a 13-year-old boy who died from burns. According to the child’s family, the body was “covered in injuries from head to toe, with injuries on the face and head, and the limbs were so burned that no other scars could be identified; the legs were swollen like elephant legs.” However, the restaurant owner where the child worked claimed that the child died of a cold. An insider said that the child was often beaten on the head with a metal spoon by the restaurant owner’s wife! The day before his death, he was forcibly pulled into the restaurant by the owner’s daughter, but this incident was not investigated. Three years passed in the blink of an eye, and yesterday, the event quickly gained attention. By early today, media reports stated that the local street office (not the police) issued a situation notice late last night, attempting to suppress the matter, and it was also found that online posts and comments were being deleted. The notice was extremely outrageous, claiming that the restaurant owner “cared for” the child long-term, turning the brutal exploitation and oppression of minors into some form of care. It also falsely stated that the injuries on the child’s body were caused by his father’s discipline, claiming he was scalded by boiling water during bathing at the shop—an absurd lie. The black-hearted restaurant owner had been exploiting the intellectually disabled father for 14 years, and now the restaurant has been closed and the owner fled. When journalists contacted the local government, they received no effective response. Moreover, the cause of death in the notice deliberately omitted “extensive burn injuries with crush syndrome” (crush syndrome refers to large-area muscle necrosis caused by compression, such as being buried under heavy objects, releasing myoglobin, potassium, and other toxins, leading to shock, acute renal failure, or chronic kidney failure and multi-organ failure). The subsequent renal failure and shock are just consequences of this first cause. The street office’s deliberate cover-up of this primary cause is undoubtedly an attempt to hide the child’s true cause of death and to shield the restaurant owner from responsibility. Some netizens speculate that this indicates the child was boiled alive in hot water! The following is a translation of the official notice issued by the street office:
On the evening of January 6, the Jinping District, Shantou City, Tujiang Street Office in Guangdong issued a statement regarding the online rumors that a boy at a local restaurant was scalded to death. The situation is as follows:
The deceased, Zhang (aged 12, from Huaiyuan County, Anhui), is a relative of Zhou (also from Huaiyuan County, Anhui), who runs the restaurant. Zhou’s family has long cared for Zhang. On January 2, 2023, Zhang accidentally knocked over a pot while boiling water to take a bath in the shop, resulting in burns on his limbs. Afterwards, Zhou bought burn ointment for Zhang, but Zhang’s father did not take him to the hospital in time. On the morning of January 10, 2023, Zhou found Zhang collapsed inside the shop. Emergency services confirmed his death upon arrival. After the incident, the public security authorities quickly conducted investigations, including interviews, on-site inspections, and autopsy examinations, which confirmed that Zhang died from burns causing multi-organ inflammation leading to acute kidney failure and shock, ruling out homicide. Other injuries on his body were minor old wounds caused by his father’s discipline. The relevant departments in Jinping District have repeatedly organized mediation between the family and Zhou, and mediation is ongoing.
