A woman suffering from pancreatic cancer has died after being set on fire while undergoing surgery at a hospital in Romania.

The 66-year-old woman died on Sunday after surgeons at Floreasca Hospital in Bucharest treated her with an alcohol-based disinfectant and then used an electric scalpel to perform an operation.

Romanian politician Emanuel Ungureanu says that medical staff in the hospital told him the woman “ignited like a torch” when the machine came into contact with the alcohol during the surgery on December 22.

The woman eventually succumbed to her injuries a week after the disastrous operation. The hospital’s accreditation has been suspended for six months because it failed to report the incident, according to Romanian news outlet G4Media.

'Traumatic'

Deputy minister Horatiu Moldovan said the surgeons should have been aware that using an alcohol-based disinfectant is prohibited during surgical procedures performed with an electric scalpel.

Health minister Victor Costache released a statement promising to investigate the "traumatic" incident.

"We hope to learn from this troubling episode," he said. "Both myself and the Ministry of Health team that I coordinate will do everything possible to find out the truth."

Romanian police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death.

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