SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - A California mother suffered severe burns from a handful of beach rocks that burst into flames in her pocket, and authorities on Friday said they are trying to determine why the stones appear to have been coated with flammable phosphorus.
The woman was identified on Friday as Lyn Hiner, 43, when she appeared on ABC program “Good Morning America” from her hospital bed at a burn center. She is from San Clemente, which is midway between Los Angeles and San Diego. It is also near Camp Pendleton, the biggest US Marine Corps base on the West Coast and a major training area where various types of munitions are used. “All of a sudden something hot on my leg just sort of started to bug me and so I started to think it was a bug bite, and I started slapping it, and next thing I know my shorts are on fire,” Hiner said on the show.