Koran
Sanaa, Yemen A man reads the Koran at the Grand Mosque during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen, June 24, 2016. Reuters/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

An episode of "Fireman Sam" was taken down from online streaming after the children’s cartoon program seemed to show a character slipping on a pile of papers believed to be the pages of the Koran.

Although the episode was first broadcasted in October 2014, the error has only recently been spotted. In the program, which last aired on June 28, the character can be seen treading on papers that are being sorted on the floor of a fire station.

Mattel, which owns production company HIT Entertainment, apologised for the error and claimed it was simply a mistake and was not done “maliciously.”

“It’s just an unfortunate incident where someone from the production company thought they were just putting in random text,” a spokeswoman from Mattel told the BBC. “We have no reason to believe it was done maliciously.”

Mattel released a statement in regards to the current issue: “The page was intended to show illegible text and we deeply regret this error. We sincerely apologise for any distress or offence it may have caused”.

“We are reviewing our content production procedures to ensure this never happens again,” it added.

Furthermore, HIT Entertainment, the producer of the program, has issued an unreserved apology last night as it said it was cancelling its contract with the Chinese animation studio responsible for making the scenes. It also claimed that this episode of the children’s program will be deleted.

"We are taking immediate action to remove this episode from circulation,” the produced declared.

Miqdaad Versi, assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, wrote a tweet on Twitter which said, "I have no idea what went through the producer’s minds when they thought this was a good idea #baffled.”

Versi also verified the page seen in the program, as “Surah Mulk (67), verse 13-26” from Koran, which focuses the issues of existence and the punishments given to non-believers.