A MUM has told how she tried to save her toddler who turned into a human fireball after playing with matches.

Humaira Dhanchora was "covered" in flames as she played with her three-year-old sister when their mum, Raihanaha, did housework downstairs.

An inquest heard that Mrs Dhanchora heard screams and fled upstairs to find the youngster on fire.

She threw a blanket around the one-year-old to try and smother the flames before running to a neighbour's house in Nottingham Street, Blackburn, to call emergency services.

The toddler was taken to Blackburn Royal Infirmary before being transferred to a burns unit at Booth Hall Children's Hospital, Manchester, where she died on May 4 - just four days before she would have celebrated her second birthday.

The youngster had been on a life support system but was not responding to anti-biotics. She contracted septicemia and had one of the highest temperatures ever recorded on a child at the hospital when she died. A later fire investigation showed the fire probably started in Humaira's polyester trousers and flames spread to a cotton dress and vest.

She suffered 17 per cent burns to herbody. Her father, Saleh, said it was a mystery how the girls had got hold of the matches.

He said they had been stored in a cupboard where they could not be reached.

Coroner Andre Rebello, who recorded a verdict of accidental death, said the incident had been a terrible blow for the family, who had recently replaced their gas fires with central heating to prevent a tragedy, after hearing of a child's death in a house fire in Blackburn.

He said: "I have no doubt that Humaira was playing with her sister and the children had matches when the tragedy occurred.

"I have a boy who is just three weeks older than she is and after the death I did a search of my house. I was surprised to find matches in places where I did not know they had been left.

"Nothing will bring Humaira back but I hope her death will not have been in vain and other parents will learn from this and be as vigilant as Mr and Mrs Dhanchora were."

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