Woman in Bulgaria sets herself on fire in capital

Sofia: A Bulgarian woman has set herself ablaze in front of the presidency in the capital, Sofia, and has been hospitalized with severe burns.

Witnesses said on Monday they saw her stepping out of a taxi in front of the president's office when she pulled out a bottle of liquid, dousing it over her head and striking a match. They rushed to save her by extinguishing the fire. TV footage showed the burned body being loaded into an ambulance.

The woman's motives weren't immediately known. A doctor at the emergency clinic where the 38-year-old Lidia Petrova was taken said that she had sustained burns over 90 per cent of her body.

Last year, six Bulgarians died after setting themselves on fire in public, most of them driven by misery and hopelessness.