Thiruvananthapuram: A 12-year-old boy died of burns he sustained while reportedly trying to imitate a hair-straightening act shown in social media, police said on Wednesday.

The deceased was Sivanarayanan of Venganoor .

The seventh standard school student on Tuesday reportedly applied kerosene to his hair and tried to straighten it with a lit matchstick, the police said.

Videos of people straightening hair using spirit and fire had gone viral on social media.

The boy, said to be a social media addict, was taken to the hospital. He died today, the police said.

Only his grandmother was at home when he tried the act in the bathroom, they said.