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NAGOYA — A man died after turning into a fireball after police supplied him with cheap cigarettes and a lighter and his kerosene-soaked clothes exploded into flames while in a police interrogation room here, police said. The 45-year-old unemployed Nagoya man, whose name was not disclosed, died late Sunday night, about 21 hours after he burst into flames inside an investigation room at the Atsuta Police Station. A 54-year-old police sergeant who tried to extinguish the fire that claimed the man’s life sustained minor burns to his right hand. Investigators said they are unsure whether the man set himself alight or he burst into flames by accident. Atsuta Police Station Deputy Chief Michiharu Kondo slammed his officers for giving the man cigarettes and a lighter despite the station’s no smoking policy. "It was wrong not to get him to change his clothes and to have given him permission to have a cigarette in the smoke-free police station," Kondo said. Police said they received a call from the man’s 59-year-old lover at about 8:40 p.m. on Saturday night after the couple had become embroiled in an argument. 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.
