A pensioner's car insurance scam backfired, causing a disastrous blaze burning huge swathes of land, when his car exploded in a protected rainforest in Brazil.
Heli Barroso Martins, 66, burned down 673 hectares of vegetation in the the Araras Biological Reserve, in Petrópolis in the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro.
The fire, which destroyed the equivalent of 1,257 football fields of environmentally protected land, was caused by a staged car-jacking that backfired.
The pensioner claimed that while he was driving home on July 27 on a remote road in the region, he was mugged at gunpoint by two men on a motorbike.
He said the gunmen set fire to his vehicle after they were unable to start the car due to ignition problems.
Martins said he was afraid of being killed and ran into the forest before calling friends for help.
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