ZIMBABWE – A one year-old boy has died after consuming paraffin.

According to police spokesperson Inspector Magret Chitove, the toddler was playing alone in a wooden cabin used as a family house.

Chitove added that, the deceased toddler asked for some drinking water from his mother Magret Tito, 23, who was outside the cabin. She told his child to get some water from the house and drink.

At that moment, the child took a 500ml bottle, which was in the house containing paraffin and drank it.

“He started coughing continuously. His mother rushed inside the house where she realized the toddler had taken paraffin,” said Insp Chitove.

“She quickly gave him fresh milk for him to vomit, but he did not,”  Chitove added.

The mother and her neighbour, Gracious Maponga, 30, of Waverley Kadoma, hired a motor vehicle and took the child to Gweshe clinic, where they were further referred to Kadoma General Hospital.

He died upon admission.