Schoolgirl burned by bikini while away on family break

Sarah O’Donnell, of Rife Way, Ferring, bought the orange and pink patterned two piece online from H&M for Enya, 11, prior to a trip to Santorini, Greece, in August.

The mother-of-three said: “When I bought it, I assumed that the beads details on the bikini were made from plastic and that they would be safe.
Enya is only just 11 so we kept her out of the sun as much as possible and made sure that she had a very high factor sun cream on.

“One evening, after she took the bikini off, we noticed that she had two burn marks where the two beads of the bikini had been.

“They were very red and blistered and Enya said they were very sore and painful. The burns then scabbed over but five weeks later she has still got two marks there and I think they will scar.

“I was mortified when I saw her skin because as a mother I do everything that I can to protect my children and be careful when in the sun and the thought that something that I had bought had burned her was awful.

“I felt terrible because it was something that I had no control over and she felt really uncomfortable after.

“Everything that she wore after that day rubbed on the burns.”

Mrs O’Donnell contacted H&M and was told that Enya’s s were not their responsibility. She said: “I was told that the bikini was sent away and analysed and the outcome was that the beads were plastic, but I have conducted my own experiments by heating the beads.

“I found that the beads did not melt and instead retained the temperature, but when I contacted H&M again they told me that as far as they were concerned the bikini had been sold to 23,000 people and this had never happened before.

“You just do not expect something like this, and then to be told that the beads are definitely plastic when you can clearly see that they are not is disappointing. I was offered a £30 gift card from H&M but my concern is that this has injured my child and it could happen to other people, too.”

A spokesman for H&M said: “It is an isolated incident and we are currently carrying out investigations to try and ascertain the cause.

“Safety is a priority at H&M and we take such incidents very seriously. This is a matter between H&M and our customer.”