A 67-year-old Vietnamese woman has died after self-immolation in Ho Chi Minh City to protest against Beijing's oil rig deployment in contested waters.

The woman set herself on fire at around 6:00 AM (12:00 MN BST) in front of the Reunification Palace in Vietnam on Friday, according to state media news firm Thanh Nien.

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The newspaper cited city official Le Truong Hai Hieu saying the police had retrieved a plastic container that contained fluid which was suspected to be fuel and one lighter.

The authorities have also recovered seven handwritten banners with messages condemning the "Chinese invasion plot" and conveying support for the fishermen and coastguards of her country.

On May 1, China deployed an oil rig to a portion of the South China Sea claimed by Vietnam, igniting the latter's fury. The two countries have been locked in a years-long dispute over potentially energy-rich waters and Hanoi had sent ships to confront the Chinese oil rigs.

In the wake of this conflict, Vietnam has allowed people to stage anti-China protests on streets. However, the government has recently started suppressing the rallies after they escalated into violent riots that took the life of three Chinese nationals and inflicted damages on Chinese-owned factories.

News about the woman's self-immolation quickly spread online. Thanh Nien posted a video clip allegedly capturing the incident with people watching.

According to state media, the woman arrived at the palace via taxi and set herself alight before the guards could prevent her from doing so.

Although protests of this form are rare in Vietnam, self-immolations have occasionally been reported in the past.

In 1963, the busy Saigon crossing was further disturbed when a Buddhist monk self-immolated there to protest against the South Vietnamese government's bad treatment of Buddhists. The Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for capturing an iconic photo of the self-immolating monk.