It’s a situation that almost beggars belief, but a Nagoya man died on Sunday after having doused himself in kerosene and being given a lighter by police.

Police were called to a domestic disturbance on Saturday night in Atsuta.

Six officers were dispatched to the scene and the man walked out onto the road to greet them, carrying an 18-liter jerry can filled with kerosene. He walked about 200 meters along the road, pouring kerosene over his head as he did so on three separate occasions, using about 5 liters of the flammable liquid.

Incredibly, rather than arrange for the man to have a change of clothes, the police interrogated the man while he was still wearing the kerosene-soaked clothes. They then gave him cigarettes and a lighter when he asked them. The report then becomes a little unclear, but it appears he was then left alone in the interrogation room for 15 minutes during which time he smoked several cigarettes, without by some miracle setting himself alight. It was only later being interviewed by three more officers that the fateful spark occurred.

Deputy Chief Michiharu Kondo, in criticising the officers, added rather inappropriately that the man shouldn’t even have been given cigarettes because the police station has a no-smoking policy.