Haitian National Sets Himself on Fire, but Survives

Davidson Estiverne

While there was loss of lives in this morning’s fire on Antelope Street Extension, a Haitian national is in critical condition at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital having survived a fire inside a vehicle. On Saturday, thirty-one-year-old Davidson Estiverne received various degrees of burns to the body when he set himself on fire inside an SUV on Pickstock Street in Belize City. Reports are that Estiverne complained about being overwhelmed with debt before carrying out the act. Surveillance footage from the area shows him fully engulfed in flames as he alights the vehicle. Station Supervisor of the National Fire Service Kenneth Mortis shares details.

Kenneth Mortis

Kenneth Mortis, Station Supervisor, National Fire Service

“A bizarre twist of event happened that initially, we received the call for a vehicle fire whereby a Haitian guy, a Mister Davidson of thirty-one years old, we prematurely got the information he got burned trying to extinguish the fire. We figured that a normal every day hero and he sustained burns to his body. However, in-depth investigation on behalf of the team out there that works with the neighbour and the police, the fire department learn that this gentleman actually tried to take his life by igniting himself in his vehicle. Now, I must tell you that suicide attempt by fire is one of the worst ways to go. You will find yourself incurring fire burns to various portions of your body in varying degrees and you will find yourself in debt medical-wise. The other flipside to that, if he survived the attempted fire burn, then your life expectancy is limited because unfortunately, we do not have any institution that deals with these fire burns over a period of time. All fire burn victims are shipped out of the country, to neighbourhood countries that can deal with fire burns. I really don’t know what Mister Davidson was thinking about. We all know that he mentioned to his girlfriend that he was experiencing heavy financial debt. It is something that he figured he just couldn’t take the burden on no more. Truth be told, Mister Davidson, you’ve just now officially racked up debts.”