A 43-year-old man Gary Allen Banning in North Carolina died Tuesday after drinking gasoline and lighting a cigarette, Yahoo reported. According to police, Banning accidentally drank from a salsa jar containing gasoline at a friend's apartment, spitting it out and getting it on his clothes. He later lit the cigarette that ignited his clothes.
"It was just a freak incident," said W.K. Preslar, an investigator with the Havelock Police Department. Preslar said Banning's friend was a mechanic and used gasoline to remove grease from his hands. The carpet where Banning was standing was "charred," Preslar added.