A SLEEPING woman was tragically burned to death after a man reportedly set her on fire inside a subway in New York.
Cops have arrested a man in his 20s suspected of setting the woman ablaze at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn.
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The unidentified victim was riding an F train in Coney Island when the man allegedly threw a lit match at her, causing her to burst into flames.
She was found burning alive in the middle of the train after they smelled smoke at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station, NYPD cops said.
The subway car was sitting idle at the end of the line at the time.
“What they saw was a person standing inside the train car fully engulfed in flames,” New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference.
The officers used fire extinguishers to put out the fire and the woman was pronounced dead at the scene by emergency responders, police said.
She was found with liquor bottles surrounding her, though it was not immediately clear if they played any part in the fire, sources said.
Cops believe that the woman was sleeping when a man sitting across from her got up, walked by her and threw a match on her, engulfing her in fire.
The suspect had remained at the scene and was seated on a bench on the subway platform, just outside the train car.
He then fled the station.
Transit police apprehended the suspect after receiving a report from three high school students who had recognized the man.
Other transit officers identified the man on another subway train and radioed ahead to the next station
They had seen images of the suspect taken from surveillance and police body cam video and widely distributed by police.
Other transit officers identified the man on another subway train and radioed ahead to the next station.
The man had a lighter in his pocket when he was taken into custody.
Horrified commuters were shocked to see the woman being carted out of the station.
A worker at the subway station told the New York Post: “I was just walking by. The cops were there already.
“I didn’t see her in flames but that’s what I heard. It was out. They shut the lights off [in the car] so nobody could see.”
Police said they were still investigating the victim’s identity and the reason for the attack.
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