Hot coffee scalds on groin area 16-year-old passenger of Virgin Australia

Virgin Australia is facing a lawsuit from a 16-year-old male passenger whose groin area suffered burns when a cup of hot coffee fell from his tray table into his lap. The accident happened in May 2015 when Rhett Butler was travelling from to Sydney from Los Angeles.

As a result, Butler had burns on his thighs, groin, genitals and midriff, the Daily Telegraph reports. The coffee cup fell due to the lack of a recess on the tray table to hold a cup, plus it was defective and pointing down toward the passenger, the lawsuit claims.

The victim says it was excruciating and the worst pain he felt. After the accident, Butler rushed to the toilet where his father, Brian Butler, immediately began pouring cold water on his burns. Because the flight crew allegedly failed to attend to Butler, it was his father who had to attend to his injuries.

The father says Virgin Australia lacked sufficient bandages on board, while the plane only had two ice pack. The flight attendants stopped giving Butler water bottles after his 12^th bottle so other first-class passengers would have bottled water for the duration of the 15-hour flight. The accident happened just after take-off.

It took three months for Butler’s wounds to heal. However, beyond the burns, the teen also suffered from emotional scarring, according to the lawsuit.

Virgin Australia, which confirms the coffee accident occurred on flight VA3 on May 3, 2015, declines to comment further on the case because it is still ongoing. The air carrier told Mashable, “Virgin Australia takes the safety and comfort of our passengers extremely seriously.”