An Iranian state news agency says a municipal worker in financial distress has set himself on fire in southwestern Iran.
In a report published Tuesday, ILNA said the man self-immolated a day earlier in the city of Abadan, suffering severe burns to 80 percent of his body. It said the man was rushed to a burn rescue hospital in the city of Ahwaz, about 100 kilometers away. There was no further update on his condition.
ILNA said a male coworker tried to help the self-immolator but also suffered burns to 35 percent of his body.
The exact location of the incident was not clear. ILNA published what it said was a photo of the self-immolator on fire.
Abadan is in Iran's ethnically diverse Khuzestan province, where the nation's Arab minority is predominantly located.
Rights activists have reported several cases of Iranian Arabs committing suicide through self-immolation in Khuzestan in recent years. They have blamed the suicides on poverty and racial discrimination against minority Arabs.
This report was produced in collaboration with VOA's Persian Service.
