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13-AUG-2009: This photo taken from a cellular phone shows a woman,
who set herself on fire at the Mall of the America in Miami, Florida,
Thursday, August 13, 2009. A good Samaritan tried to extinguish the
fire by pushing the woman to the ground, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt.
Arnold Piedrahita said. (Miami Herald/MCT) [Photo copyright 2009 by
AP]
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The Miami Herald MIAMI -- A woman who lit herself on fire inside the Mall of the Americas was in critical condition Thursday evening, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue officials said.HOT TRAVEL DEALS Police officials believe she tried to commit suicide. The scene, which unfolded just after 3 p.m. EDT outside of the Savage Boutique shop, left mall-goers shocked. "She looked like a human torch, on fire from head to toe", said Santiago Castro, who manages a travel agency inside the mall. The woman, 43, was not identified by police. Witnesses said she doused herself in a flammable liquid before lighting the fire. She then walked around the mall calmly and quietly. John Torres, who was shopping, said the scene looked like something out of a movie. "It was a big fireball", he said. "It was movie-style stuntman stuff." Witness Jose Morales, 24, said that at one point, the flames shot more than seven feet into the air. Inside the mall, the scene was chaos. Some shoppers took off running. Others, thinking it was some kind of stunt, started snapping pictures on their cellphones. One person tried to extinguish the fire by pushing the woman to the ground, said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Arnold Piedrahita. Two others, including Castro, rushed to grab fire extinguishers. They followed the woman out into the parking lot, where they put out the blaze. Even after the flames were out, the woman continued walking around the building, witnesses said. Her hair and clothing had been burned off. Morales said the woman's skin was charred and bubbling. When police and rescue workers arrived, the woman had third-degree burns on more than 75 percent of her body, Piedrahita said. She was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center in a medical helicopter. Police described her injuries as
"life-threatening." The three people who had tried to help the woman were treated on the scene for minor injuries, fire rescue officials said. The Miami-Dade Police Department's arson unit is investigating, police spokesman Detective Roy Rutland said.
(Staff writer Elinor J. Brecher contributed to this report.)
(c) 2009, The Miami Herald. Visit The Miami Herald Web edition on the World Wide Web at http://www.miamiherald.com/ Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
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