Alex Trelinski
A 37-YEAR-OLD woman tried to set herself alight at the Port of Valencia in front of her young son after discovering they could not board a ferry to Algeria.
The incident happened on Tuesday morning with the Algerian national who lives in Bilbao arriving at Valencia with her son, 7, to catch a ferry to return to her homeland to attend her mother’s funeral.
The shipping company told her the ferry was fully booked and there was no availability until mid-July.
The woman- in a state of distress- bought some gasoline and sprayed her body with it in the presence of her child.
She then produced a kitchen lighter and threatened to burn herself alive.
Two port police officers and a Balearia ferry security guard saw what she was doing and pounced on her just in time to stop her igniting the lighter.
The woman was taken to Valencia’s La Fe Hospital with minor chest irritations caused by the gasoline.
The president of the Port Authority of Valencia, Joan Calabuig, congratulated the port police and the security guard for their quick ‘intervention and bravery’.
