Failing to burn down school, girl sets herself on fire

A Vietnamese teenager set herself on fire after attempting to burn down her school in an ill-fated social media dare, local media reported on Wednesday.

In a video which has gone viral online, the 13-year-old girl can be seen pouring petrol in front of a door at her school in the southern province of Khanh Hoa.

According to the local media, the girl inadvertently set herself alight after lighting a match with friends cheering her on.

However, she received slight burns to her legs.

The unnamed girl had promised to set the fire if she received 1,000 “likes” on her Facebook profile.

Report says the dare is part of a recent social media fad known locally as “Vietnamese say, Vietnamese do’’.

Another gruesome video went viral in September of a man in Ho Chi Minh City apparently setting himself on fire and jumping off a bridge into a canal after receiving 40,000 Facebook “likes.’’

It said that neither his identity nor fate was ever confirmed.

According to a social studies expert, Dr Pham Thi Thuy, it is a case of crowd psychology.

“This is a case of crowd psychology,as the mob rushes to `like’ those Facebook posts just for fun, which in fact leads to stupid acts by the young people involved,’’ Pham told newsmen.