Student testifies he was 'hopelessly burning alive'

NEW YORK (AP) -- A former high school student severely burned when a chemistry class experiment went horrifically wrong testified at a civil trial that he remembered feeling the fire eat away at his skin.

The New York Post reports Alonzo Yanes, now 21, took the stand Tuesday in his family's civil case against New York City and his former teacher for the Jan 2014 experiment at Beacon High School.

The lawsuit says the experiment, which involved mineral salts being set on fire and used methanol, was performed despite warnings that it was dangerous and the students were not adequately protected.

Yanes testified that a giant fireball erupted and he "was hopelessly burning alive."

A lawyer for the defense told jurors when the trial began that the fire was an accident.