Youth Dies of Burns Suffered in Explosion

An 18-year-old youth died Thursday of extensive burns suffered in a propane stove explosion and house fire last week that killed his sister and left his father struggling for life.

Loc Tan Mai died early Thursday in the burn unit of UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he had been undergoing treatment since the explosion Jan. 28 in the rented rooms of a house at 1309 N. McLean Drive.

His father, Dong Viet Mai, remained in extremely critical condition Thursday in the burn unit, according to Dr. Simon Madorsky, who had been treating both father and son.

Both had suffered burns to 75% of their bodies and had fire-related problems with their pulmonary and respiratory systems. Dong Viet Mai suffered serious burns to his lungs, the doctor said.

“I can’t believe my boy is dead,” Loc Tan Mai’s mother, Nam Le, said from a relative’s home where she has been staying. “He seemed so alert, and now he’s died. I can’t understand it.”

For the second time in less than two weeks, she is making funeral arrangements for a child.

Her 23-year-old daughter, Kim-Anh Mai, died last week from injuries suffered when the propane-fueled stove on which she was cooking dinner exploded. Preliminary investigations showed that fuel from the propane tank may have leaked to the stove, which had been placed on a table in a makeshift kitchen.

The Mais rented the back section of the house from another family and had moved in just months before. Members of the second family, who lived in the front rooms of the house, were not injured.

City officials said that installing a second stove not fueled by natural gas in a structure is illegal. Planning and building officials said Thursday that they are still investigating.

Le, who immigrated from Vietnam with her family less than a year ago, said she will appeal to the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross to help with her son’s funeral costs. The chapter, along with the Forest Lawn mortuary in Cypress, underwrote funeral expenses for her daughter.

Until the fire, the family had lived on welfare and Kim-Anh Mai’s income as a temporary worker. She was buried Monday, on the eve of the Vietnamese New Year, said Tieu Vinh Tran, a relative who came from Ventura to help the family.

Times staff writer Thuan Le contributed to this story.