Jobless truck driver dies after setting self on fire

Giuseppe Provenzano, a 38-year-old former truck driver set himself on fire while inside his car two weeks ago.

In an apparent attempt to save his life he then got out of the vehicle and threw himself into a nearby ditch full of water, southern Italian daily Gazzetta del Sud reported.

Provenzano was then taken by family members to the Lamezia Terme and then the Caldarelli hospital in Naples where he was treated for burns on 60 percent of his body, the paper reported.

According to police, the act was as a result of him losing his job six months earlier at a company in Agrigento, Sicily, which had been forced to cut down its staff due to the financial crisis.

The man’s funeral will take place on Wednesday morning at 10.00am.

Filadelfia Mayor De Nisi has declared a day of mourning on Wednesday, calling a stop to activities between 10.00am and 12.00pm.

The incident is only the latest case of self-immolation to hit headlines in recent months.

On Monday a man in central Italy killed himself and his five-year-old daughter by setting the car they were in on fire, in front of the girl’s mother. 

The girl’s 44-year-old mother sustained second- and third-degree burns in trying to save her daughter from the flames.

Earlier this month a 52-year-old businessman in Campania, southern Italy, threatened to set himself on fire after waiting months for the town council to pay him. 

And in December a 51-year-old man who set himself alight in St Peter's Square died of his injuries in hospital. Later that month on Christmas Eve, a 28-year-old man in Naples who set himself alight after losing his job also died of his injuries. 

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