Daniella Jacobs-Herd, eight, from Australia, suffered third-degree birds after a spark from a fire pit landed on her Temu jumper – her family recalled the moment her skin began ‘melting’ away
Temu has recalled a children’s jumper after a girl was left with her skin “falling off” following a freak accident.
Daniella Jacobs-Herd, eight, from Queensland, Australia, was wearing the unicorn sweater, which looks similar to an oodie, when it caught fire as she stood close to a fire pit. Sparks from the fire ignited her jumper, which “melted like a plastic bag”.
The little girl, who has autism and ADHD, endured third-degree burns to her face and body during the incident in July last year. She now faces a decade’s worth of surgeries. Daniella’s mother Hannah Jacobs recalled the terrifying moment she saw her daughter’s skin melt away. Speaking about the ordeal, she said: “You might as well just throw an accelerant on her and let her on fire. That’s how it looked. It was just melting.
“She was screaming. You can see that the product itself actually melted like plastic, like a plastic bag. Everyone, all the adults, were in quite distress because they had seen her skin just falling off her.” Temu offered a voluntary recall notice, reports Nine News.
Daniella received the glow in the dark jumper as a birthday present from her grandmother. It was found that the jumper, alongside three other styles, failed to include the required fire hazard label. Her mother added: “How can this be in Australia? How can we have these products that burn children.”
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission confirmed four styles of the products were sold between October 2023 and March 2024. The recall notice says: “The product does not comply with the mandatory standard for nightwear for children. It doesn’t include the required warning label.
“There is a risk of serious burn injuries if exposed to a heat or flame source. Consumers may not be aware of this risk. An incident has occurred resulting in serious injuries to a child.” The family said they are working with lawyers to come up with a solution with the Chinese brand. Ms Jacobs said she wants Daniella to “have some sort of life.”
A spokesperson for Temu told The Mirror: “We are currently assisting in communications with both the family and the merchant involved in this matter. There are limits to what we can share given the privacy considerations. Temu takes product safety very seriously and has been working closely with the ACCC to address this issue.
“We promptly removed the product from sale in early September 2024 upon becoming aware of the incident. As a precaution, we have expanded our review to children’s nightwear sold by other traders. Additionally, we are in discussions with the ACCC about becoming a signatory to the online product safety pledge.”
