Locals were puzzled by the constant pealing of bells coming from a church in the Albaicín (Granada) but they were horrified to discover what was causing it.

Several residents on Calle San José had remarked how strange it was that the bells were ringing in San José Church during the early hours of Thursday the 15th of January.

One of them went to investigate only to find a man in flames pulling on the bell rope – it was now 08.20h.

They immediately phoned 112 to say that a man had set himself alight in the bell tower of the church. By the time that they police and ambulance arrived the man already had burns to 60% of his body. Later, police investigators found an empty gasoline container.

He was immediately rushed to the main hospital’s ICU, before being transferred to the main hospital in Sevilla which specialises in burns, where his condition is said to be “very serious.”

The victim is a 34-year-old man from Serbia. The Policía Nacional had recently started administrative procedures to expel him from the country as he is here illegally.

Lastly, he had gained access to the bell tower by climbing over a high gate and then forced the door.

(News: Albaicin, Metropolitan Granada, Andalucia)