Angry not being invited to a family meeting, a 30-year-old man in Phu Tho Province used petrol to cause a fire that killed two of his relatives and seriously injured six others.

The victims were hospitalized at the National Burn Institute with burns on 35-90 percent of their bodies on September 9. Two of them, Pham Thi Hien, over 50 years old, and Dao Duc Hy, about 60 years old, died yesterday morning.

Of the four remaining victims, three suffer serious respiratory failure and have been put on respirator.

Among the three is Pham Thi Ben, 56, the mother of  the culprit, Pham Viet Cuong, who escaped but surrendered himself to police later.

The attack occurred last Sunday night in a house in Hung Vuong Ward, Phu Tho Town, where the house’s owner, Pham Thi Binh, and 10 other people who are Binh’s relatives were meeting to discuss how to organize a funeral for Binh’s mother.

The house where the deadly incident occured on September 9, 2012 (Photo: Tuoi Tre)

Being angry at not being included in the meeting, Cuong, a grandson of the deceased woman, bought a can of petrol and brought it to the house at 9:30 pm that day.

He then splashed the 11 people present there with the fuel that caught fire immediately from some burning candles on an alter in the house.

Cuong told police that he and many of the victims had previous conflicts and they therefore had not invited him to the meeting.

Police have detained Cuong and continued investigating.