Girl with horrific burns backs fire safety campaign

A TEENAGER who is believed to have survived the worst burn injuries in the world became the face of a Christmas fire safety campaign yesterday.

Dorah Mokoena, 16, survived against all the odds after suffering horrendous burns at the age of six months, when a candle set fire to the shack home she had been left in.

Doctors in South Africa believed she would die of her injuries, and even after she pulled through, she was told she would never walk again and would need to have her eyes removed.

But thanks to the work of South Africa-based charity Children of Fire, Dorah learned to walk and had surgery on her eyes in Britain.

Dorah and the charity are helping promote London Fire Brigade’s Christmas safety campaign, warning about the dangers of candles.

Bronwen Jones, director of Children of Fire, said: “When she was six months old she was left alone in a shack, the candle fell over and the shack burned down and she was terribly, terribly injured.”

Dorah had almost no treatment in South Africa, she was turned away from three hospitals and eventually admitted when they believed she was going to die.

Jones said: “She survived against all the odds and we started visiting her and a couple of years later they said they were going to remove her eyes to save money because the dressings were too expensive.

“And then I said ‘you can’t do that’ and I started to look for a solution and the solution was in Britain in Moorfields Eye Hospital where they put skin over her eyes to preserve them for the future.”

Dorah travelled to Britain for treatment at the London hospital in 1998.

Some 1,300 home fires a year are caused by candles in Britain. In 2008, 18 people died in fires caused by candles, national statistics indicate.

After cigarette lighters, they are the second highest cause of fire injuries, London fire commissioner Ron Dobson said.