A YOUNG boy was being treated for serious burns today after falling into a vat of caustic soda.

The nine-year-old plunged through a roof of a derelict building in Rawmarsh, Rotherham, into the container filled with a chemical once used to strip furniture.

Witnesses said the boy, named locally as Brooklyn Briggs, screamed for help and looked as though he was covered in blood.

He was initially taken to Rotherham District General Hospital before being transferred to the burns unit at Sheffield Children's Hospital, where his condition was stable. Caustic soda, also known as sodium hydroxide, can cause severe burns, scarring and blindness.

The boy was playing football with friends in a car park when he went to retrieve the ball from the roof of a disused workshop. He was climbing to reach the ball when the roof of the building gave way and the boy crashed through to the ground below, landing in the tank.

The boy's mother said she and her husband rushed to the scene after one of his friends told them about the accident.

Tracey Briggs said: "My husband Gary ran down the street and I got in the car and drove down.

"As I got there he was in Gary's arms just screaming help me daddy, help me daddy, please help me'."

The accident is now being investigated by the Health and Safety Executive.