Police said two Pi Kappa Alpha pledges received second- and third-degree burns last month from boiling water and crab boil being poured on their bodies and were treated at a hospital. Crab boil is a hot spice added to water to boil crabs.

"The two students were treated at a local hospital for severe burns that occurred during the hazing," Officer Garry Flot, a New Orleans police spokesman, said in a news release.

The scalding was done to see who could stand the most pain, said attorney Paul Hesse, who represents one of the pledges who had "severe second-degree burns to his back, buttocks, shoulders, arms and over 20 percent of his body."

"He is getting medical treatment twice a day and is in a lot of pain," Hesse said. His client is unable to attend school, but Tulane has agreed to allow him to take final exams when he has recovered, Hesse said.

Hesse would not identify his client, saying he feared reprisal.

The fraternity members have turned themselves in to police, though it was not immediately clear if they were being held. They were booked with aggravated second-degree battery, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison.