A boy sustained serious injuries on over half of his body while a woman sustained minor injuries after a petrol container stored in the kitchen caught fire in Prek Trorp village, Cholsa commune, Cholkiri district, Kampong Chhnang province on Wednesday morning.

Cholsa commune police chief Mong Sitha said Som Sophanny, 12, is a student at Prek Trorb primary school. The other victim was the boy’s aunt. She was also the person who saved him and put out the fire.

He said the house where the incident occurred ran a business selling petrol, and that the boy’s parents always kept petrol in containers.

“There were people who went to buy petrol there, so the mother told the boy to pour the petrol from the container to a bottle for sale.

“In the kitchen, fire from a stove cooking rice touched the petrol, setting it on flames.

The distance from the petrol container and the kitchen was less than one meter. The amount of petrol in the container was one litre,” Sitha said.

Neighbours immediately came to help the victims.

They cut banana leaves to cover both victims to decrease the heat and sent them to the Cholkiri referral hospital, but the doctor there told relatives to send them to the Kampang Cham referral hospital, Sitha said.

“The boy’s aunt just had a minor burn but the boy was burnt on the left side of his body and chest,” he said.