A Russian torchbearer’s clothing caught fire as he carried it through a Siberian city in the latest mishap to befall the Olympic flame. A clip posted on YouTube by the Russian site Lifenews shows former Olympic bobsledder Pyotr Makarchuk parading the torch through a crowd in the city of Abakan when flames suddenly leap from the left shoulder and upper arm of his jacket. Escorts immediately put out the flames and Makarchuk was not injured, said Roman Osin, spokesman for the Russian Sochi 2014 torch relay. He said the flames were caused by drops of liquid gas that fell on Makarchuk’s jacket in the incident yesterday. The Olympic flame has been to the North Pole and the International Space Station on its 40,000-mile journey to Sochi. However, it has gone out dozens of times, including minutes after President Vladimir Putin handed it over in Red Square last month. more
