1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
In focus
German election 2025Middle East crisisRussia's war in Ukraine
Latest audioLatest videos
Live TV
Politics

Iranian asylum seeker sets self on fire in Germany.

May 29, 2018

The man sustained serious injuries in the incident as government employees watched in horror. Authorities assume he intended to kill himself after having asked for help with his asylum status.

https://p.dw.com/p/2yXeg
Iranian asylum seeker flown to clinic after setting himself on fire in Göppingen
The man was flown to a nearby burn clinic after the incidentImage: picture-alliance/dpa/Woelfl

On Tuesday, a 35-year-old Iranian man entered an administrative building in the city of Göppingen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg and asked for assistance, showing employees there a government letter denying him asylum. Although the women assured him they would look into the situation, the man reportedly became aggressive.

Read more: Merkel toughens stance on rejected asylum seekers

He then proceeded to remove a bottle containing liquid out of his backpack, pour it over his head and light it. Police say that the women were able to get to safety before the man went up in flames. Another government employee used towels from a cleaning cart to put out the fire. Police in the nearby city of Ulm say the man, who was flown to a burn clinic, sustained serious injuries.

Günter Stolz of the Göppingen finance department told the German dpa news agency that employees had been shocked by the events that unfolded in the building's foyer: "A lot of people heard the man screaming." The building had to be partially evacuated after the incident and was eventually closed to the public for the remainder of the day.

js/msh (dpa)