A boy suffered burns across his face when he fell into a fire while warming himself during the cold season in northeast Thailand.

Vintage, aged five, tumbled face-first into the flames when his stool tipped on the gravel outside his home in Buriram on January 13.

The boy screamed as the coals scorched his skin before his mother, Sujintra Tewinrum, 34, rushed out of her room to scoop him up. He was rushed to a hospital with skin peeling from his right cheek.

Sujintra said she lights a fire for her son every night at their unfinished concrete home, as a cold snap grips northern Thailand.

She said: 'It's been very cold lately, and we don't have thick blankets at home, so I have to light the fire for him every evening before he goes to sleep.

'I lit the fire as usual at around 8:30 pm. My relatives who usually join us had already left, leaving just us two. I went to take a shower in the bathroom near the fire.

'My son had just finished showering and was about warm himself by the fire when I heard him scream. I ran out and saw him with his face buried in the fire. I rushed to help him and called emergency services for help. Luckily, the fire had already died down. There were only ashes and a few embers, but they were still smouldering.'

Sujintra believes the boy may have climbed onto a chair to get closer to the fire before losing his balance.

She added that he is out of danger and recovering at a hospital.

The Thai Meteorological Department said cold weather is persisting across northern Thailand due to a high-pressure system and cold air mass from China.

The chill is expected to ease starting January 15, though higher elevations in the north will still experience cold conditions.