Meet the 2-year-old baby who occasionally bursts into flames (PHOTOS)

Like many mothers, Rajeshwari Karnan was delighted when she gave birth to a son. The 23-year-old farm labourer and her husband, Karnan Perumal, 26, already had a two-year-old daughter, but like many in the state of Tamil Nadu, they considered a boy a particular blessing……

One afternoon, says Rajeshwari, she was washing her daughter when she suddenly heard Rahul screaming from inside the hut. She ran towards him, but before she could get there, a neighbour shouted to her the words she will never forget: Your baby is on fire!

There was a flame on his belly and his right knee, Rajeshwari told the New York Times last week, and my husband rushed with a towel to put it off [sic]. I got very scared……..
But it has done three more times, according to the couple. The last incident took place one afternoon last month, with their little boy suffering first and second-degree burns. As a result, the family have now been forced to move from their village, due to their neighbours fears that the baby could cause a serious fire.
This month, the couple took the child to be examined at a hospital in the city of Chennai, where the doctors are equally baffled.
Doctors are now considering whether baby Rahul is a victim of one of the strangest and most mysterious of phenomena said to affect the body – spontaneous human combustion…..