SOFIA, Bulgaria, March 4 (UPI) -- A third Bulgarian man who set himself on fire over the country's economic conditions is in extremely critical condition, a hospital official said Monday.
Ventsislav Vasilev, 53, set himself on fire last week in the southern Bulgaria town of Radnevo in protest of the extreme poverty in which he and his family lived, the Sofia News Agency reported.
He had to borrow $1.99 to buy the gasoline with which he committed the self-immolation, the report said. Vasilev was burned over 70 percent of his body and pronounced clinically dead before his scheduled surgery on Monday. Doctors brought him back to life, hospital authorities said.
Another man who set himself on fire Feb. 20 died Sunday night.
Plamen Goranov, 36, had poured gasoline on himself and lit it in front of Varna city hall during a protest against local politicians and extremely high utility bills.
He was burned over 80 percent his body and died of multiple organ failure, said Ivaylo Vazharov, director of the Naval Hospital in Varna.
During the protest, Goranov, an avid mountain climber and photographer, had been carrying a poster calling for the resignation of Varna mayor Kiril Yordanov and the city council.
