VIENNA (AFP) - An Austrian man accidentally set his wife on fire with ethanol while attempting to protect his family from mosquitos on their terrace, police said Friday (July 8).

"The man was opening the bottle, which contained a 96 per cent alcohol solution, when it exploded and spilled onto his wife," a police spokesman told AFP.

"We believe it was set off by a tea light," the spokesman in the southern state of Carinthia said after the incident in the village of Wernberg Thursday evening.

The man, 54, and the couple's 13-year-old son managed to put out the flames under the shower and the woman, 44, was airlifted to hospital with serious burns.