SOFIA: Two more people have set themselves on fire in Bulgaria, bringing to seven the number of self-immolations amid growing despair over poverty, state BNR radio reported Wednesday.
A 41-year-old unemployed father doused himself with fuel and set himself ablaze in the northeastern village of Sitovo on Wednesday, the radio said.
He was hospitalised with burns over 90 percent of his body but was conscious, telling doctors that he did it out of despair, BNR added.
The man kept repeating: "I am fed up, there's no bread, I cannot stand this anymore," according to hospital chief Daniela Kostadinova, quoted by the radio.
A 59-year-old miner was also fighting for his life with 30-percent burns after setting himself on fire late Monday in the small mining town of Bobov dol, in eastern Bulgaria, the radio said.
The man, who had been recently sacked from his job, reportedly called his wife right before the incident to tell her that he felt useless. He then set himself ablaze in the presence of their son, who managed to put the fire out with his jacket, the radio said.
The interior ministry referred to "incidents" without actually confirming that two men set themselves ablaze.
Five other people have set themselves ablaze in the past month amid a wave of sometimes violent protests against high electricity bills, low incomes, and corruption.
Four of them, three men and a woman died of their injuries.
Psychologists said poverty and despair were behind these acts, the first in Bulgaria for decades.
Only one of the men who set himself on fire 36-year-old Plamen Goranov from the Black Sea city of Varna -- had voiced political demands, becoming a symbol of the rallies that prompted the right-wing government to resign last month.
Bulgaria's otherwise detached Christian Orthodox Church also came forward last week to decry the self-immolations, insisting people should seek other solutions to the problems.
Street protests have subsided as the country heads for early elections on May 12 but political analysts said they might erupt again before the vote. (AFP)
