A Chinese man has accidentally set his wife on fire in the middle of a crowded restaurant , after becoming impatient with how fast his tea was brewing . Tang Kung set his wife ablaze after he poured alcohol over an open flame at his table in the restaurant in Guangzhou , a city in China 's Guangdong Province , the People 's Daily Online reported . He had become impatient with the speed with which his tea was boiling , so decided to give in a helping hand . Explosion : The moment the fireball shot across the restaurant table was caught on camera . Help : Tang Kung is then shown desperately trying to put the flames out , which had engulfed his wife . Mr Tang said he had only wanted to make the flame a bit larger after noticing the burner was starting to run low on fuel . But as soon as he poured the alcohol on the flame - which was lit in the middle of the table - a massive fireball shot out , engulfing his wife Lu Mai , 43 . Video footage shows the injured woman - whose clothes had caught fire - leaping up as her 53-year-old husband tried to extinguish the flames with his hands . Mr Tang told reporters later : 'The fire was extremely fierce . All the service attendants fled in terror when it happened . 'It was very difficult to put out . ' In the end , Mr Tang was helped by other customers and restaurant staff , who extinguished the fire with the help of table cloths . Injured : Shocked restaurant customers then rushed to the burned woman 's assistance . Mrs Lu was rushed to hospital , where she received treatment for second degree burns to her face , neck and left arm . Cooking items at your own table in a restaurant has become a trend in China , but it is not without its risks . Last September , a similar tragedy took place when a waitress at a barbecue restaurant in the city of Zhejiang poured liquid alcohol over the grill , causing it to burst into flames and setting a customer on fire . A spokesman for Xia Hsing , the restaurant where the most recent accident happened , said : 'Customers are not allowed to refuel the stoves but the man had ignored the rule and taken the matter into his own hands , saying he did n't want to disturb the waitress . '
Tang Kung said he wanted to make the flame a bit larger after fuel ran low . But when he poured the alcohol he caused a huge fireball to explode . The flames engulfed his wife Lu Mai , setting her clothes on fire . She was rescued by firefighters and taken to hospital where she died of burns in an ambulance.