A five-year-old child in Mousuni island of South 24-Parganas suffered critical burn injuries as he fell into a tub full of steaming “khichri (porridge)” while playing in the courtyard of an Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centre on Friday morning.

A teacher noticed the incident, picked Sheikh Arif out of the tub and rushed him to Kakdwip super-speciality hospital, where he was admitted with critical burn injuries.

A source in the hospital said the child suffered around 50 per cent burns, including his leg, arms, and chest.

The incident occurred at the Baghdanga centre in the Poilar Gheri area of the remote island under the Namkhana block in the Sunderbans minutes before the cooked food was to be served to the children.

The school has no kitchen and a part of the courtyard is used for cooking every day, while around 50 children play during breaks in the vacant space of the courtyard.

“The condition of the child is serious,” an attending doctor said.

Eye witnesses said the tub containing the “khichri (mixed starch of rice and lentil)” was left open when the lone cook had gone to fetch water and Arif, playing “catch-me-if-you-can”, fell into it.

South 24-Parganas district magistrate Sumit Gupta termed the incident as unfortunate. “I shall look into the incident and extend all medical support for early recovery of the child,” Gupta told The Telegraph.

“At the same time, I shall see how the incident occurred and ensure no repetition,” he added.

Guardians alleged poor infrastructure of the ICDS centre, accusing the local administration of taking no action to improve its condition.