Egypt: Dad dies after pre-iftar row with son

Cairo: An Egyptian father died of burns he sustained after his son set the family house on fire during a pre-iftar dispute in a Nile Delta village, local media reported.

The 59-year-old father, a peasant, was taken to a hospital in the provincial city of Mansoura with multiple burns and doctors decided to perform emergency surgery on him, but he passed shortly afterwards, according to the report.

His wife was also hospitalised with burns in the face, arms and legs.

Witnesses said that their son had come to the family house ahead of the iftar meal in the current holy month of Ramadan when an altercation erupted between him and his father over a financial dispute.

Severe burns

In a fit of anger, the son doused petrol in the house and set it ablaze, causing severe burns to his parents, the witnesses added.

Local police arrested the suspect, who reportedly said his father used to expel him from the house whenever he asked for money from him because his earnings from his job as a driver of a tok-tok (a motorised three wheeler) were not enough.

The son, whose age was not revealed, admitted to having torched the house in anger.