The man who set himself on fire outside the White House on Wednesday has died, police have said.

Video posted to social media platforms from the scene showed the man engulfed in flames as cars drove past.

Secret Service officials said the agency "responded in seconds" to the incident after the "male individual lit himself on fire" at about 12.25pm local time.

The man, who has been named as Arnav Gupta, was taken to the hospital on Wednesday but died later that night, the US Park Police said.

The incident took place on the Ellipse, an area popular with tourists between the White House and the Washington Monument.

A still from a video shows a police officer extinguishing a man who set himself on fire on the Ellipse across from the White House, in Washington, DC, USA, 29 May 2019. (EPA)

The man reportedly suffered burns on 85 per cent of his body.

A 17-year-old witness told CNBC the man began “running, and then we saw him covered in flames”.

“Everybody was in shock,” Alina Berzins told the outlet. “I was in shock.”



The investigation was handed over to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

A representative for the MPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It was the second such incident in two months, when a man in an electric mobility scooter was hospitalised after he lit his jacket on fire outside the White House fence.