A Chinese man kidnapped his pregnant 21-year-old girlfriend, tied a gas tank to her back and ignited when police turned up to try and rescue her.
Li Moulian, 36, dragged Xu Fan, 21, out of her bed and bundled her into the back of his car before carrying out the vicious attack in Huizhou City of Guangdong Province, southern China.
The pair ended up side-by-side in hospital beds as surgeons battle to save their lives, but, despite the mother-to-be’s horrific injuries, her unborn baby managed to survive.
She fell pregnant by mistake after a one-night-stand, but the pair decided to stay together and moved into to a house in Mazhuang New Village.
Sixth months into the relationship, the pressure seems to have been too much for the father-to-be.
Moulian attacked Fan while she was asleep and dragged her out of her bed, telling her he planned to kill her.
He bundled her into the car and drove around the town before police were able to spot him.
They also received calls from disturbed neighbours who saw the young woman being dragged across the street.
The girl was pulled from the car by police, but officers were forced to extinguish flames on her body.
Both the man and women suffered life-threatening burns and were taken to hospital.
The pair ended up in the same operating room side-by-side as surgeons worked to save the lives.
Treatment: The couple lay side-by-side in a Chinese hospital suffering from serious burns
After rescuing the girl and extinguishing the blaze, police then rescued the man who suffered more severe burns as a result, and who is not expected to survive.
The young woman’s family said they had warned her against getting involved too quickly with Li Moulian, from Lufeng City located in the southeast of Guangdong Province.
Her uncle Wu Chin, 47, said: ‘We had warned her that she needed to know more about him before deciding to spend her life with him, it seems sadly the warnings were true as he clearly has mental problems.
‘To suddenly accuse her in the middle of the night trying to kill his parents shows he is obviously severely paranoid.
‘It is a bad start in life for the child as well with the father having obvious mental problems.’
Police spokesman Tao Hou, 36, said: ‘As the police car with a siren approached the car with the man and woman inside, and another blocked off its escape route from the rear, the man ignited something in the car which exploded into flames.’
