A TAUNTON mum has branded her holiday of a life time a ‘disaster’ after the hot tea served by an air stewardess allegedly gave her baby daughter second degree burns.

Rachel Sorensen was making a trip for Christmas from December 8 to 30, from London to Australia with her mum and two children, Riley, 6, and Lily-Mae, 14 months.

The journey involved flying on three different planes, from Heathrow to Paris, to China and then to Melbourne, with the drama unfolding just two hours before landing on the final flight with China Southern Airlines.

Rachel, 24, said: “It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to take my kids to see their uncle and newborn cousin in Australia, little did I know the last two hours of my flight from China was going to be hell.

“As my mother and I were being asked from the right what we wanted to drink an air hostess asked my son what drink he would like “Being only six, he replied a cup of tea, so without our knowledge, she handed him a boiling hot cup of tea.

“His little sister turned in a second and pulled the cup but luckily, my mum saw them and stopped the other half falling on them too.

“My kids screamed in pain and we rushed to take the baby-grow off her.

“As I stripped them both off, my daughter had massive swollen blisters on the top of her thigh and my son escaped with a red blistering mark.”

Rachel says she ran down the plane to the stewardesses, believing them to be first aid-trained.

“I had to ask for a towel five times so I could put water on it.

“They then made announcement for a doctor or nurse to come forward and help.

“Eventually a man came forward and told them to sit with a bucket under her leg and pour water on it. They did this till they had to take seats for landing and we were told an ambulance was on its way to airport.

Rachel says an ambulance crew, fire crew and border enforcement boarded the plane as they had been told there was an explosion with two child casualties.

She added: “I was billed $1,146 just for the ambulance. Lily-Mae ended up with second degree burns. Her leg still hasn’t healed.

“The airline rang us two days after to see how she was and we’ve filed a complaint, but heard nothing. Our holiday of a lifetime was a disaster.”

China Southern Airlines has not responded to requests for a comment.