A man who was declared ineligible for unemployment benefit has died after setting himself on fire outside a job centre in western France, reports the BBC.
Police in Nantes tried to stop the unnamed man, 43, but he managed to pass them, dousing himself in petrol and setting himself alight.
The police had been alerted by messages he sent to the media announcing his plans to kill himself publicly.
The jobless number in France recently rose to levels not seen in 12 years.
With more than three million people unemployed, the Socialist government has struggled to create new jobs in its first year in office.
Last month, a jobless man in the Spanish city of Malaga also died after setting himself alight.
On Tuesday morning, the man in Nantes sent an email, declaring his intention to burn himself, which was later published in a local newspaper, Presse-Ocean.
He said he had worked enough hours to qualify legally for benefit but had been refused.
Nearly three hours later, the man wrote again to say the centre was closed and he planned to return there with petrol, either on Wednesday or Thursday.
Police mounted a watch outside the job centre on Wednesday morning after trying unsuccessfully to contact the man, an unnamed policeman told the paper.
Read more of this report from the BBC.