VENTURA, Calif. » Police say a homeless man is hospitalized with second- and third-degree burns after someone set him on fire while he was sleeping on a Southern California beach.

Ventura police Cmdr. Tom Higgins said Saturday night’s attack left 58-year-old John Frazier with burns to his face and upper torso.

The Los Angeles Times reports a passerby who noticed the flames on Ventura beach used sand to extinguish the fire.

Frazier told police he was asleep in a sleeping bag and had awoken to see three men in their late teens or early 20s pouring lighter fluid on him and his backpack and setting the fire. The suspects were gone by the time the passerby went to help.

Frazier was listed in stable condition at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center on Sunday.