A man has set himself on fire at the electricity ministry in Cairo's Abbasiya district.

Suez resident Tarek Mohamadein entered the building on Tuesday morning with a bottle of petrol and a job application form, eyewitnesses told Al-Ahram Arabic news website.

Employees at the ministry's media office were taken aback when Mohamadein poured petrol over his body and set himself alight, apparently in protest at not obtaining a job, eyewitnesses added.

Mohamadein is being treated for serious burns at hospital. Investigations are underway.

Mohamadein is not the first person to bear resentment against the electricity ministry. Last August, a 40-year-old man set himself on fire outside the presidential palace after he lost his job at the ministry. Passerby managed to extinguish the flames.

In December 2010, the Tunisian uprising was sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old vegetable seller, in protest at rampant corruption and his inability to make a living.

The action was echoed in Egypt days before the January 25 Revolution when a man tried to set himself alight outside the parliament building in Cairo's downtown while shouting anti-government slogans.