One Girl Injured, The Other Passed Away, Who is to Blame?

Source: JobTube, Arianna J., Freya W., Josh B.

On September 9th, sad news was released on mainstream media and quickly swept the Internet. The news involved two teenage girls who had an accident when making popcorn... 

The Tragedy

On August 22nd, a 14-year-old girl, named Zhezhe, together with Xiaoyu, a 12-year-old girl, from Zaozhuang, Shandong, tried to make popcorn at home by using a Coca-Cola can, as they had seen it done in an online video.

However, they failed at their first attempt. So they poured industrial alcohol into the can, while the fire was still burning. Unexpectedly, the flame triggered an explosion, as a 1KG barrel of alcohol was nearby. Seeing the fire, the girls rushed to fetch water, and tried to put out the fire.

Unfortunately, Zhezhe fell down and became covered with fire, immediately.

Seeing this, Xiaoyu ran out and called for help. Thankfully, some neighbors were at home, and heard her cries. The neighbors rushed to the scene, and pulled Zhezhe out of the fire. Both girls were sent to Zaozhuang Municipal Hospital to undergo treatment. Unfortunately, Xiaoyu was burned, which caused damage to 13% of her body, while Zhezhe suffered even worse burns. 

Zhezhe had 96% of her body burned, and was sent to the ICU. Yet, at 11AM on September 5th, she took her last breath and passed away.

Parent: Blogger & Platform to Blame

On September 6th, Zhezhe's father, named Zhou, was interviewed over the phone. During the interview, he became emotional several times. After the accident, he checked the video that the girls watched, which showed the process of making popcorn. On the platform, he found no warning of the inherent dangers of the process. In Zhous opinion, it was the causing factor for his daughters death as there was no warning to remind kids of the dangers. He wanted to sue the blogger and the short video platform for his daughters death, but he didn't know how to do it.

Previously, he had raised more than 100 thousand RMB through the Internet for Zhezhe's treatment which he felt grateful for. As of now, his family is still suffering from the tragedy and chaos, as his wife was devastated and also ended up in the hospital.

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