Carmarthenshire man gets third-degree burns after using disposable beach BBQ

Warning: This article contains a distressing image

A man who suffered third-degree burns from hot sand after using a disposable barbecue on a beach has warned others to be aware of the dangers.

Sam Knight had been using it on Cefn Sidan Beach, Carmarthenshire, with his family and stepped on sand that was still hot.

The 27-year-old had to be carried off the beach after suffering badly blistered feet and needed weeks of treatment.

Experts at a burns centre say injuries such as this are becoming increasingly common and warned beachgoers to take precautions.

Knight told Radio Wales Breakfast he was not aware that sand could be a “real hazard”.

He had used tongs to move the barbecue to one side and extinguished it, so he thought it was safe.

“When I returned to the area, I stepped on a boiling hot patch of sand, and had to be carried off the beach,” he added.

Knight said he was taken to Neath Port Talbot Hospital where he was told he would need a burns specialist.

“I couldn’t walk for a couple of weeks so I had to take a fortnight off work,” he added.

David Fligelstone and Menna Davies are physiotherapists who work with the burns centre at Swansea Bay University Health Board.

Fligelstone said the number of incidents they are seeing is “going up year on year”.

“The key thing is that people don’t understand is that that sand stays hot for such a long time after a barbecue is moved,” he said.

“When you look at the evidence it’s always the sand that hasn’t been cooled that ends up causing that injury.”

Davies said injuries like this can be “quite painful” and need to be dressed for a “long period of time”.