A block of flats caught fire after a tenant tried to burn a cockroach with a lighter and spray. A mother died while trying to save her child

A mother died trying to save her child from a fire that engulfed a block of flats in South Korea. The flames broke out after a neighbor tried to kill a cockroach with a makeshift flamethrower, according to The Independent.

The flammable substance sprayed on the beetle ignited and the flames spread. PHOTO Shutterstock

The tragedy happened around 5:35 a.m. on Monday in the city of Osan, south of Seoul, in Gyeonggi Province.

The 20-year-old neighbor, who lived on the second floor, sprayed a flammable substance on a cockroach and lit it with a lighter, according to local media.

The flames spread to a nearby bed and piles of trash, police said.

The fire quickly spread to the fifth (top) floor of the building, filling the stairwells with thick smoke.

A 30-year-old Chinese woman who lived in the block with her husband and two-month-old baby died

How the mother died trying to save her child

As the fire engulfed their apartment, the couple called for help from the window, then handed the baby to a neighbor in a neighboring block less than a meter away.

The woman's husband managed to climb to safety, but the mother fell from the floor. The victim was transported to Ajou University Hospital, but died five hours later. The child survived and is unharmed.

Firefighters extinguished the fire in about 40 minutes.

Eight residents needed medical attention after inhaling smoke.

Investigators believe the couple tried to escape through a window after finding the hallway blocked by smoke and flames.

The 20-year-old woman, whose identity has not been released, will be charged with negligence resulting in death.

We remind you that, also on Monday, four people died in a fire that broke out in a ten-story building in the 3rd arrondissement of the French city of Lyon.