NEW YORK — Police arrested a man they said set a woman on fire while she appeared to be asleep on a New York City subway train on Sunday (Dec 22) morning, killing her.

The woman, who has not been identified, sat motionlessly aboard a stationary F train at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station in Brooklyn at about 7.30am (8.30pm SGT) when an unknown man approached her and used a lighter to set her clothing on fire, the New York Police Department said. Police said there was no interaction before the attack and they did not believe the two people knew each other.

The man got off the car as police officers on patrol in the station rushed to the blaze.

"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.

Police arrested a suspect, who has not been publicly identified, as he rode the subway later on Sunday.

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