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Rabat – A 41-year-old man set himself on fire on Tuesday morning outside of Morocco’s General Consulate in the Spanish capital of Madrid, police and diplomatic sources told AFP.
The man, who is reportedly Moroccan, sustained serious injuries and was taken to the La Paz hospital to receive the necessary medical care.
“We treated a man who had suffered serious burns and took him to La Paz hospital,” an emergency services spokesman told AFP.
Local authorities confirmed that the man “had set himself on fire outside of the Moroccan consulate,” but did not provide more details.
Spanish news outlet El Pais indicated that an employee at the Moroccan consulate managed to put out the fire using a fire extinguisher. Emergency services arrived minutes later to stabilize and transform the man to the hospital.
The news outlet indicated that the Moroccan consulate does not have information about the circumstances of the incident and what pushed the 41-year-old man to set himself on fire.
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“The person set himself on fire next to the consulate. We have no idea why he did it. It happened very quickly,” AFP quoted “a Moroccan diplomatic source” as saying. The source added that “there was no contact with the consulate,” as the incident occurred outside the building.
However, it appears that the act was premeditated, since the man brought with him flammable liquid. The man sustained burns across more than 30% of his body, El Pais noted.
An eyewitness told the Spanish television channel RTVE: “I saw him [the 41-year-old man] running and there were people behind him trying to pull his clothes off.”
“From the way the flames were starting from his head, I think he had poured petrol over himself,” said the witness, who was driving by as the incident occurred.
