This shocking video shows how young boy giggles as he watches a homeless man struggle after setting his room on fire ‘to get on TV’.

Media in Khabarovsk, Russia, reported that the 10-year-old boy started a fire in the basement where the man was sleeping rough on 6th November.

He had gone to the basement of the building to smoke a cigarette, reported local media, when he spotted the homeless man.

The boy apparently made the chilling admission that he only started the fire to get on TV.

Footage from the clip shows the down-and-out struggling to escape from the flames while the boy laughs demonically at his terror.

It ends with the man falling forwards in a shower of sparks and flames while the boy keeps laughing.

The blaze sent smoke billowing through the hostel above, which had to be evacuated.

Thirty people managed to escape the building by their own means, but 20 – including 10 children – had to be rescued by emergency services.

Seven of them had to be rescued via a hydraulic ladder, reported local media, which also said that a man and a child had to be taken to hospital.

Officials in Khabarovsk reported that the suspected arsonist had been identified and that the homeless man he set on fire survived and is no longer at risk.

Netizens claimed that they knew who the boy behind the camera was and alleged it was not the first time he had shown aggression towards the elderly.

Police are investigating the case.