The man who set himself on fire on the National Mall Friday afternoon was airlifted to a nearby hospital with life-threatening injuries, a D.C. police spokesman said.

Several runners stopped to help the man – who had set off the flames with a can of gasoline near 7th Street – and beat him with their shirts to extinguish the flames, witnesses said.

“He was burnt really bad and his arms were charred,” D.C. resident Nicole Didyk said. Didyk, who is an environmental engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration, was running on the Mall at the time of the incident.

“I am so proud of the good samaritans who helped,” Didyk added.

Moments after the incident, Megan van Heertum said she could smell “burning flesh.” She saw emergency crews loading the man into a helicopter after police came “from every direction.” A helicopter landed around 4:30 p.m.

GW senior Katherine Pineda, who was also running on the mall, said she saw medical crews crowding together on the Mall, bent over a victim.

“At first I thought someone had fainted but it was really smoky,” Pineda said, adding that she circled the block again after she realized a serious incident had occurred.

– Ben Kershner contributed to this report