Four children, including two girls, suffered severe burns while playing with fire inside the bonnet of an abandoned SUV parked on the roadside at Panagarh in West Burdwan on Wednesday.

Siva Singh, 5, Golu Singh, 7, Ayush Shaw, 7, and Purba Shaw, 7 were initially admitted to the Durgapur subdivisional hospital. As two of the children had severe burns on their faces, they were shifted to a private super-speciality hospital at Panagarh.

Sources said the children were playing inside the empty bonnet of an abandoned Bolero when the accident occurred.

The car’s engine had been removed and the kids used the space to play. Around 4pm, a local youth witnessed smoke billowing out of the bonnet. When he opened it, he found the children trapped inside and shouting for help.

Local people came rushing for help after the youth raised the alarm. He dragged the children out of the bonnet, removed their clothes and doused the blaze by wrapping jute bags.

“Local children usually play inside abandoned cars in the area which has become the scrapyard of unused vehicles. But we never expected something like this,” said Jitendra Paswan, a local youth.

He said one of the children had lighted an earthen lamp inside the bonnet and they were playing with the fire.

“The bonnet was empty as the engine had been removed. One child had brought an earthen lamp and matchbox from home. They had lit up the lamp in the cramped space and were playing with it.Suddenly, the clothes of a child caught fire and the flames spread to others. The youth, who rescued them, also suffered burns and was taken to a local hospital. Two children suffered burn injuries on their faces, while two others burnt their hands,” said Paswan.

Hundreds of vehicles are dumped in the area regularly.

Police said they started an investigation into the incident.

“We have learnt that the children were playing with fire inside the car’s bonnet when the incident occurred. We are investigating it. The owner of the abandoned vehicle will be traced soon,” said Suman Kumar Jaiswal, assistant commissioner of police of the Kanksa area in the east division of the Asansol Durgapur police commissionerate.