Bulgaria Self-Immolation Death Toll Rises to 4

A 41-year-old man who set himself on fire in Northeastern Bulgaria has passed away, raising the death toll to four in the country's unprecedented self-immolation wave.

The unemployed man poured gasoline on himself and set himself ablaze in the village of Sitovo on Tuesday. He was rushed to hospital with 90% burns and was put on induced coma.

The man, Todor Yovchev, became the 6th Bulgarian self-immolator in the course of just one month. Four of them have now perished.

The life of the 52-year-old Bulgarian man who set himself ablaze in downtown Sofia one week ago remains in danger. 52-year-old blacksmith Dimitar Dimitrov set himself of fire in front of the Presidential building in Sofia. Security guards extinguished the flames and he was taken to hospital with 25% burns.

53-year-old Ventsislav Vasilev, who set himself on fire in Radnevo on February 26, having explained he has long lived in great poverty, passed away on March 10.

On March 3, Plamen Goranov, 36, died in Varna, after having set himself on fire on February 20, as an extreme act of political protest. Goranov, who protested against the corrupt authorities in the Black Sea city, became a symbol of the nationwide rallies, with media describing him as "the Bulgarian Jan Palach."

On February 19, 26-year-old Traian Marechkov set himself on fire and died soon after in Veliko Tarnovo, having explained he is too despaired to live on.

On March 18, a miner from the western town of Bobovdol was also reported to have set himself on fire. Simeon Simeonov, 59, allegedly poured gasoline on his body before the very eyes of his son. Police later claimed that the miner's self-immolation was likely an accident.

In addition to self-immolation, a suicide wave seems to have invaded Bulgaria with daily reports about people hanging themselves, jumping for bridges and high-story buildings, and throwing themselves under trains, among others.

An unusually high number of suicides have been recently reported in the Black Sea city of Varna.

Bulgaria's Health Ministry has requested regional health authorities to implement urgent measures for suicide prevention in the poverty-stricken EU country.

The action for the rescue of desperate Bulgarians begins at the beginning of next week.

Health inspectors and psychologists will be searching for risk groups to help improve their spirit.

President Rosen Plevneliev installed a caretaker government on March 12 after last month's resignation of the center-right GERB government that was triggered by massive protests against poverty, corruption and shockingly high utility bills.