A man has set himself on fire in the Tunisian capital due to poverty and unemployment.

The 27-year-old man, identified as Adel Khadri, suffered serious burns after self-immolation in Tunis on Tuesday.

Khadri, who is from Jendouba in northwestern Tunisia, came to the capital some months ago to find a job.

“This is a young man who sells cigarettes because of unemployment," witnesses quoted Khadri as shouting before he set himself on fire.

""His life is not in danger but he has third-degree burns to the head and the back," emergency services spokesman Mongi Khadhi said.


"He was demoralized. His father died four years ago. He has three brothers and the family is very poor."

Tunisian Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Tarrouche also said the self-immolation was caused by poverty.

"He is unemployed and came to Tunis a few months ago. He was very fragile, psychologically broken, and that is why he set himself on fire," Tarrouche stated.

In December 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi, an unemployed young Tunisian frustrated with poverty and financial problems, set himself ablaze, and died.

Bouazizi's death sparked mass protests, which finally caused a popular revolution in Tunisia, leading to the ouster of the country’s Western-backed dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in January 2011.