U.S. woman fights for life after horrific blowtorch attack which killed her fiance and three other family members during party



25-year-old airlifted from Puerto Rico to Miami hospital with 80% burns

Assailant threw dinner party after dousing home with kerosene

As they sat down, he calmly set light to walls



Fighting for life: Kate Donohue is in a critical condition, and her fiance Jesus Sanchez is dead, after Sanchez Diaz poured gasoline on family members then attacked them with a blowtorch

An American woman is fighting for her life today after suffering horrific burns in an arson attack which killed her fiance and three other members of his family.

Kate Donohue, 25, had been visiting Puerto Rico with Jesus Sanchez to celebrate their recent engagement and had been invited to a family party by one of his uncles.

They had just sat down for dinner when Sanchez Diaz went berserk with a blowtorch and set light to the walls he had doused in kerosene. He had also placed fuel canisters under the table.

He had invited 14 people to the welcoming party he was throwing in his two-storey house in the mountain town of Florida on January 1.



'He planned the party so that everyone would show up,' said police spokesman, Lt Reinaldo Jimenez.



When everyone was seated, Mr Diaz emerged from his room armed with a 9kg container of propane gas and then doused them with kerosene, he said.

Sanchez Diaz then set them on fire using a stick wrapped with a towel soaked in fuel.

A witness described seeing members of the family fleeing the house in flames and neighbours desperately trying to douse them down.

Police and firefighters found Sanchez Diaz in a bathroom where he had filled the tub and sink with water.

A 17-year-old niece and a 32-year-old cousin of Diaz died almost immediately. His mother, Justino Diaz, 45, died of her injuries yesterday.

And last night Jesus Sanchez himself joined the list of victims at Centro Medico hospital after suffering 80 per cent burns in the attack.

Horror attack: Kate Donohue had been visiting Puerto Rico with Jesus Sanchez to celebrate their recent engagement and had been invited to a family party by one of his uncles

Engaged to be married: Kate and Jesus were planning a summer wedding and were visiting Puerto Rico to see Jesus's relatives. Kate was today flown to a hospital in Miami with burns to 80 per cent of her body



Ms Donahue was flown this morning to the burns unit of the University of Miami Jackson Memorial Hospital.

The couple, from Seattle, had travelled to the island so she could meet Sanchez's family.

Her parents travelled to Puerto Rico immediately after hearing news of the attack.

'They've been able to see her, but she's been put in a medically induced coma, so they haven't been able to speak with her,' a friend explained.

Wheeled into court: Heavily bound Sanchez Diaz arrives to be charged with murdering his mother in an horrific arson attack at a dinner party he was hosting for his nephew, who had just got engaged to a woman from America now fighting for her life

Ms Donahue's mother Michelle told reporters the couple was very much in love.

'Their last words before they were intubated were, 'For each other,'' she said. 'She loves him. He loves her. The last six months have been the happiest time of her life.'

Another friend said: 'There's a lot of love surrounding both families ... We can't stress enough how wonderful Jesus' family has been.'

Kate Donohue and Jesus Sanchez were visiting Florida, Puerto Rico, (pictured) from Seattle so she could meet his family after they were recently engaged

Naryamie Hernandez set up a Facebook for the couple, saying she was in mourning.

'It's hard to believe that the world has lost such an amazing human being. I will continue to remember you Jesus as the happy person you were from our days in high school,' she wrote.

Ms Donahue works as a nurse for Group Health, while Mr Sanchez was a Boeing engineer, according to The Seattle Times.

Prosecutors charged Mr Diaz late Tuesday with his mother's death

Sanchez Diaz has had run-ins with his family in the past, and about five years ago he set fire to a hen house in the back of his brother's home, Jimenez said.

Since the blaze, Sanchez Diaz has refused to eat or talk about a possible motive.

