A Mongolian union boss set himself on fire to protest a deal with China, shocking video showed.
Identified as S. Erdene, the chairman of the Board of the Mongolian Solidarity Labor Union calmly sat at a press conference Friday just before pouring a flammable liquid over his head.
"The government no longer supports our company, families of the workers are forced to starve," he tells reporters. "This is why I will burn myself for the people of Mongolia and our children."
He then lights his lapel, and bursts into flames immediately. To everyone's horror, he immediately falls from the burning pain, while others try putting the blaze out with their jackets.
Black smoke fills the room as the blaze grew, until someone puts out the flames with a fire extinguisher.
Erdene was rushed to Mongolia's National Trauma and Orthopedic Research Center, where he suffered burns to over 40% of his body, AKI Press reported. The burned mining leader was in stable condition after recovering from his injuries.
Mongolian Prime Minister Chimed Saikhanbileg made the leader's mining company, Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi, pay for his medical bills.
The protest stemmed from the Mongolian government considering selling stakes in several coal mines across the country to China, which miners feared would force them out of work. The same day the union leader burned himself alive, 21 workers from his mining company went on strike.
After seeing the fiery protest, representatives from Erdene's company and the labor union reached an agreement, ending the strike the next day.
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