A 24-year-old law student in Johor, failed his law exam three times and proceeded to set himself on fire at a petrol station after being ashamed to face his family, according to a report by Mothership.
The incident happened on Monday (17 April) at a petrol station in Jalan Ibrahim, in the Segamat District of Johor Bahru.
A video of the gruesome incident was also shared online on Twitter by user @nanmanjoi8715. (Disturbing images, viewer discretion is advised.)
The local police were alerted on 17 April at about 8 pm to the student dousing his whole body in petrol and setting himself alight with a lighter before the owner of the petrol station then used a fire extinguisher to put out the fire and save the student, according to a press release by the Segamat district police.
After the fire was put out, the student then ran away from the scene before sitting in the middle of the road to let himself get run over by the vehicles.
An oncoming lorry managed to stop his vehicle in time and avoid running over the student, but a car behind ended up losing control and hitting the back of the lorry and causing an accident.
The police said that the student was eventually conveyed to the Segamat Hospital for treatment, where he was found with about 70% burns on his body, and is currently still receiving treatment.
According to the Johor police’s preliminary investigations, the student had apparently failed his Bachelor of Law exams for the third time and was ashamed to face his family, hence the decision to set himself on fire.
Investigations into the accident are ongoing, and the police are investigating the student under Section 309 of Malaysia’s Penal Code, where whoever attempts to hurt themselves in a fatal manner faces a jail term of up to 1 year and/or a fine.