A 40-year-old Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seeker in Australia has set himself on fire fearing deportation, the third such incident in the country battling exodus of refugees trying to sneak in illegally.

The incident happened on Friday night in Melbourne when the man, who does not want to be identified, splashed petrol on his legs and set himself alight, according to a statement by the Tamil Refugee Council. He was saved by his housemates, fellow asylum seekers, and was later admitted to an area hospital, news.com.au reported.

"We are very lucky on this occasion that the man's housemates were aware of what he was planning to do otherwise we may have had another death on our hands," council spokesperson Sri Samy said.