By WAYNE THOMPSON
A woman died on the forecourt of the service station where she worked today after running from the building in flames.
Passers-by rushed to throw water over the woman in a desperate bid to douse the fire.
Firefighters from the nearby Otahuhu Fire Station were on the scene
within three minutes after a 1.30pm call reporting someone was on fire at the Shell Atkinson Ave station.
Ambulance officers found the woman's body a few steps from the shop door.
A man who fled the burning shop was being treated at Middlemore Hospital last night for minor burns.
Police would not name either the dead woman or the customer.
Detective Inspector Stu Allsop-Smith, who led a squad of detectives to the Shell station, said investigations had not yet revealed how the fire started.
He would not comment on whether the fire was being treated as suspicious or the result of an explosion from a gas cylinder.
Some of the first people on the scene mentioned a gas cylinder explosion, but said it sounded more like a "whoosh" than a bang. One said the shop counter was on fire.
Shell New Zealand senior Auckland representative Jim Collings said initial reports suggested there was an explosion but he said the company, the police and Labour Department safety inspectors were still investigating the incident.
Fire Service communications officer Kevin Barbara said the initial report was that a person was on fire. Firefighters found a person was on fire and the Shell shop was burning.
The Fire Service technical specialist in gas and chemical fires was also called to the scene.
A woman passer-by, who asked not to be named, filled a rubbish tin with tapwater and threw it over the attendant who was extensively burned on the front of her body.
