A YOUNG woman and her baby boy were severely injured in a rented apartment in Longhua District when their home caught fire following a gas explosion Aug. 14.

Both the woman and the boy suffered severe burns on half of their bodies. But the family can’t afford their medical treatment, which amounts to over 1 million yuan (US$150,000).

The mother, identified as Xiaoli, and her son, Doudou, are still in the ICU of a Futian hospital. Both of them have second to third-degree burns and have breathing difficulties. The boy’s eyes were also severely injured. They are out of life-threatening danger after emergency treatment.

Xiaoli’s husband, identified as Xiaoning, was not at home at the time of the accident. He was having a haircut at a barbershop only 50 meters away from his home.

Three minutes after the explosion, Xiaoning saw his wife standing in front of him, with their son in her arms. He noticed that both his wife and son’s skin had begun to turn dark. Xiaoli was not aware of anything, but kept repeating that her son was injured.

Xiaoli told her husband that she planned to bathe their baby and after she walked into the room, the explosion went off.

Xiaoning immediately took them to a nearby hospital, but was told by the doctors there to go to a larger hospital in Futian District.

Since there were no ambulances at the Longhua hospital, Xiaoning and his brother had to drive them to the Futian hospital. According to Xiaoning, his brother ran almost all the red lights along the way to save time and when they hit traffic, his brother got out of the car to beg the other drivers to make way for him.

“My son was not even crying at that time and his breath was very light,” said Xiaoning. Almost one and half hours after the explosion, they arrived at the hospital. Both Xiaoli and Doudou were in extremely dangerous conditions.

Xiaoning said that their rented apartment was a renovated factory dorm. He found burn marks in both the kitchen and the bathroom when he visited it one week later. His wife could not explain how the explosion took place and the police are still investigating.

The couple come from Henan Province. After dating for years, they moved to Shenzhen in 2013 and got married two years later. Doudou was born in the beginning of this year. Both Xiaoli and Xiaoning were working in a factory in Longhua, maintaining their life with a monthly income of 10,000 yuan.

So far Xiaoning has spent nearly 200,000 yuan on his wife and son’s treatment. Even after an additional few dozen thousand yuan provided by his employer, and all of his savings, Xiaoning still doesn’t have enough to cover the treatment. (Zhang Qian)