Petrol blaze kills mom, kids
2008-04-22 20:29
Luanda - An Angolan woman and her five children burned to death after plastic containers filled with petrol that she was planning to sell were ignited by a paraffin lamp, RNA radio said on Tuesday, citing police.
Teresa Londuenje was filling bottles with the petrol late on Monday in her home in Balombo, some 600km southeast of the capital Luanda, when the lamp sparked the blaze, engulfing the house in flames.
"The paraffin lamp fell on the containers full with petrol and as a result Teresa Londuenje and her five children were burned as well as the house they lived in," police spokesperson Nerciades Ekunde was quoted as saying.
Angola is Africa's second largest oil producer after Nigeria, with production of 1.6 million barrels a day, but most rural areas go without electricity and many people use generators to power their homes.
Petrol stations are also unreliable in Angola and many people buy large quantities of petrol in one go, which they store in their homes and later resell at higher prices.