WOMAN ON FIRE

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20421, 11 February 1938, Page 5

WOMAN ON FIRE

CLOTHES BET ALIGHT BY A LAMP (From a Correspondent) SYDNEY, JAN. 20. Residents of Day Street, Sydney, ■ were horrified the other night to see a woman, ablaze from head to foot, rush into the street. She was pursued by two men. who succeeded in extinguishing the flames. The woman, Miss Amy Buckland, received dreadful burns and was taken to Sydney Hospital in a critical condition. A bottle of methylated spirit was bought in mistake for kerosene. Miss Buckland was sitting on a sofa in the living room while her uncle, Richard Mychiel, and Thomas Duffey were filling the lamp by the light of a candle. The fumes of the spirit were suddenly ignited by the naked candle flame. Miss Buckland’s hair caught alight. Mychiel was extinguishing the flames when she became panic-stricken and attempted to run out of the room. The woman knocked against the bottle of methylated spirit and then fell to the floor in the pool of inflammable liquid. She rose ablaze from head to foot. Duffey and Mychiel pluckily tried to beat out the flames and their hands were badly burned. Their attempts to snatch the burning clothing from her were frustrated by the tight belt she wore, which held the garments close to her body. Distracted ’by pain, she fought free and ran into the street. The two men followed her and succeeded in putting out the flames. Members of the Circular Quay Are brigade arrived on the scene, subdued the small fire in the house and treated Duffey.