A WOMAN suffered severe burns and three children were seriously hurt when a “fireball” engulfed a portable gas barbecue, emergency services said tonight.

East of England Ambulance Service confirmed that a total of seven people were hurt in the incident on a playing field in Luton, Bedfordshire, at 4.32pm today.

An ambulance service spokesman said three children, aged between six and 11, sustained 15% to 20% burns to their upper limbs, and a woman in her 40s suffered severe burns.

The children were all taken to Luton and Dunstable Hospital by ambulance crews, while the woman was given a general anaesthetic before being airlifted to the specialist burns unit at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.

The spokesman added that three more adults were taken by ambulance crews to the Lister Hospital in Stevenage with minor burns.

Befordshire Fire and Rescue Service said a group of around 20 people were thought to have been at the playing fields when the barbecue caught fire.

A brigade spokesman said crews from the nearby Stopsley Fire Station arrived at the scene before ambulance crews and administered first aid with the help of a locally-based paramedic.

The cause of the blaze was not yet clear but would be the subject of a fire service investigation, the spokesman added.