Boy, 13, visits hospital bed of woman he set alight to apologise

A teenage Sichuan boy who doused a teacher in petrol and set her alight two months ago went to visit the woman, who is in hospital with severe burns, on Sunday for the first time, a mainland newspaper reports.

The 13-year-old boy, whose name has not been disclosed, accompanied his father to the hospital in Chengdu on Sunday morning, where the injured teacher Yang Dongling is undergoing treatment. He delivered an apology letter but did not speak to Yang during the visit, the Chengdu Business Daily reported.

The boy splashed petrol on Yang, whom he did not know, and ignited it with a lighter on the night of June 13 in Jinchuan, a six-hour-drive from Chengdu. He then took Yang’s iPhone and ran away, the report said.

Yang and the boy were unable to talk with each other because of anger from Yang’s family, the report said.

Yang read the boy’s 100-character apology letter carefully after the boy left. “I want to hear him read the letter,” she said. When she learned the boy was on his way home, Yang said she would go to see him when she recovered.