3rd Man Sets Himself on Fire in Bulgaria in a Week

A 53-year-old man has set himself on fire in the southern town of Radnevo, becoming the third such case in Bulgaria in just a week.

The man entered the building of the Radnevo Municipality about 4 pm on Tuesday and told the officials that he was going to set himself ablaze. Second later he lit a match and burst into flames.

The man has been hospitalized with 70% burns at a specialized clinic in the southern city of Plovdiv.

Plamen Goranov, 36, set himself on fire on February 20, 2013, in front of Varna's municipality, in protest against local mayor Kiril Yordanov and his alleged ties with the TIM business group.

Many in Bulgaria have already compared Goranov to Jan Palach and Mohamed Bouazizi.

Before that, on February 19, a middle-aged man set himself on fire in the northern city of Veliko Tarnovo, allegedly out of desperation for living in utter poverty.