Believers Hail Virgin Mary “Miracle” Untouched By Blaze
Believers are hailing it a holy miracle as several people ended up with burned hands after a Palm Sunday procession descended into chaos when a historic statue of the Virgin Mary caught fire – but was not burned.
People taking part in the procession marking the start of holy week in the run-up to Easter were shocked when the statue burst into flames at the annual event in the Spanish town of Velez-Malaga in the province of Malaga, Andalucia.
The procession had only travelled a short way, some 200 metres (656 feet), when the candle came loose and toppled to the floor, setting fire to the garments of the Virgin Mary statue which was quickly engulfed in flames.
Several people, including monks, clambered onto the display trying to beat out the flames with their hands, with some suffering burns, before a fire extinguisher was found to extinguish the blaze.
The video shows people crying out in shock as men clamber onto the float to try and extinguish the flames, while apparently suffering smoke inhalation.
Parents can be seen rushing their young children away so that they did not witness the shocking sight.
The end result was that the statue was badly burned with both the face, arms and hair damaged by the flames before they were put out.
The damaged icon was then quickly taken back to the temple where the damage was assessed and the procession was cancelled.
The injured were taken to the Velez-Malaga Regional Hospital.
It follows an earlier incident two days before in which another statue of the Virgin Mary and a child in the Santisima Trinidad parish, known as the church of San Telmo in Chiclana, was also hit by fire.
But, apart from the clothing being burned, the statue of mother and child was undamaged, causing locals to hail it as a miracle.
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