Doctors are warning people not to try a popular TikTok Squid Game trend after three children were hospitalised attempting it in Australia.
The TikTok trend based on the hit Netflix show Squid Game requires carving shapes into DIY honeycomb without it breaking and many children are apparently giving it a try.
As a result, three have been hospitalised with burns.
One of the victims was 14-year-old Aiden, who was rushed to Westmead Children's Hospital in New South Wales with burns after spilling hot sugar trying to make the honeycomb.
"It's shocking that such a simple act, like making honeycomb, could have such serious consequences," his mum Helena said, as reported by AAP.
She told The Daily Telegraph many children Aiden's age were viewing Squid Game - a Korean drama based around a fictional activity where contestants play a deadly game for a huge cash prize.
"It's very popular and Aiden was trying to recreate the honeycomb with the imprint on it, he looked it up on TikTok on how to create it."
Helena said Aiden combined the ingredients in a plastic cup - but didn't realise the cup wasn't microwavable and it "exploded".
"It has burnt his hand, and because it was sugar and plastic melted together, it has run down his leg from his knee down to his shin and it stuck and kept on burning and burning and burning," she told The Daily Telegraph. "It was like toffee and burnt right through to the nerves," Helena explained.
At the hospital, doctors treated Aiden for the burns and nerve damage to his leg and hand. He's now recovering and experts are warning against that trend that's landed Aiden and two other children in hospital.
"Sugar melts at a temperature that is higher than what’s needed to boil water, so the honeycomb toffee mix is both hotter and stickier," said Erik La Hei, the Westmead Children's Hospital burns unit's acting head.
"If the mixture is spilt or handled while it's still hot, the greater heat and longer contact time causes deeper, more serious burns," Dr La Hei said, AAP reported.
