A 27-year-old Algerian man suffered serious injuries on Wednesday after he set himself on fire at the Algerian Consulate in Alicante because they refused to issue him a passport as he did not meet the requirements. The young man’s girlfriend, 22, was also injured while assisting her partner, who, after being treated at the Alicante General Hospital, was transferred by helicopter to the La Fe Burns Unit in Valencia.
The events occurred around eleven thirty in the morning at the the Algerian Consulate. According to the National Police, who attended the scene, a 27-year-old Algerian man went with his girlfriend to the consulate and at the entrance presented some documents in order to obtain a passport.
However, he was told that he did not meet all the requirements and that he could not be issued with a passport, so he began to get edgy and ended up insulting and threatening the consulate staff, one of whom also suffered bruising when he was attacked. ” If you don’t give me the passport, I’ll burn myself right here,” the young man told them moments before taking out a bottle of petrol.
The young man then doused the fuel over his head and the rest of his body and then set himself on fire. According to the police, staff used a fire extinguisher to try to put out the fire with about twenty people running out of the building.
The young man also ended up on the street, where his girlfriend and other people put out the fire with the help of a towel provided by a local shopkeeper
Paramedics from a SAMU ambulance treated the young man at the scene before taking him to the Doctor Balmis General Hospital in Alicante, where the burns were initially treated before to transferring him by helicopter to the Specialist Burns Unit of La Fe hospital in Valencia.
