Swakop man sets himself on fire

A BIZARRE suicide stunned Swakopmunders on Sunday when a young man soaked his body and clothes with petrol before setting himself alight.

The ghastly act was committed in public, on a pavement behind the Woermann & Brock shopping centre in Vineta. According to an attendant at the adjacent Vineta Shell service station, the victim, 23-year-old Orjell Elvario, had arrived there shortly before 09h30, carrying an empty container to buy N$20 worth of petrol.A security guard who was on duty told The Namibian they assumed that the man was fetching petrol for a car that had run out of fuel nearby.He said Elvario did not seem upset or intoxicated.According to Police information, Elvario then walked to the back of the supermarket, where he poured the fuel all over his body and set himself alight.A bystander apparently fetched a fire extinguisher at the supermarket and unsuccessfully tried to put the fire out.International SOS took Elvario to the Swakopmund State Hospital, where he died later that day.He was said to have sustained grade 3 burns on 100 per cent of his body and his chances of survival were minimal.According to NamPol’s Chief Inspector Sidney Philander, the matter is being treated as a case of suicide.According to an attendant at the adjacent Vineta Shell service station, the victim, 23-year-old Orjell Elvario, had arrived there shortly before 09h30, carrying an empty container to buy N$20 worth of petrol.A security guard who was on duty told The Namibian they assumed that the man was fetching petrol for a car that had run out of fuel nearby.He said Elvario did not seem upset or intoxicated.According to Police information, Elvario then walked to the back of the supermarket, where he poured the fuel all over his body and set himself alight.A bystander apparently fetched a fire extinguisher at the supermarket and unsuccessfully tried to put the fire out.International SOS took Elvario to the Swakopmund State Hospital, where he died later that day.He was said to have sustained grade 3 burns on 100 per cent of his body and his chances of survival were minimal.According to NamPol’s Chief Inspector Sidney Philander, the matter is being treated as a case of suicide.