WORK colleagues have sent a get-well message to a trainee builder who was seriously injured in a barbecue accident.

Sam Gee, 18, of Sawrey Court, Clayton-le-Moors, sustained 40 per cent burns after a friend poured petrol on to the flames in the yard of his house.

Sam was engulfed in flames and suffered burns to his arms and throat.

He has been treated at Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester, where his condition has been described as "serious but stable".

Sam works for sub-contractors S and J Developments in Accrington.

His boss, Steve Mitchell, said he has worked as an apprentice bricklayer for the last three years and studies one day a week at Blackburn College. The firm works at sites, mainly in Rossendale, as a contractor for Accrington-based Craig Hamb-ling Ltd.

Mr Mitchell said: "He is a good lad and really hard-working.

"We know that he is in a bad way at hospital but we wish him all the best and hope to see him back at work as soon as possible."

Sam was part of a group of seven men and a woman who had been on a night out before the incident, at 2.45am on Saturday.

Firefighters said the former pupil at Moorhead School, Accrington, was injured after one of the group threw some petrol from a can on to the flames. They said flames flashed back at the group which ignited the can and the flames engulfed Sam, who was standing nearby.

Police investigated the incident but are now treating it as an accident.

A spokesman from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said: "The dangers of using accelarants such as petrol are huge and the injuries that it can cause are horrific.

"It is just not worth the risk to put petrol on a barbecue."

He said that last year there were more than 1,700 people injured in barbecue related incidents at homes across the country.