New York: A woman died in a subway train fire.

A suspect has been arrested in connection with the death of a woman who set fire to a subway train in Brooklyn, New York.

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch called Sunday’s incident “one of the most heinous crimes one person can commit against another human being”.

She said the woman was on a stationary F train to Brooklyn when she was approached by a man who used a lighter to burn her clothes.

The victim died at the scene, he said, adding that the suspect was taken into custody after being detained on another subway train.

The woman, whose name has not been released, was in a subway carriage at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn at 07:30 local time (12:30 GMT) when a man approached her, police said. Approached.

Police said there was no conversation before the attack, adding that they did not believe the two men knew each other.

The man got off the train when the policemen on patrol at the station ran into the fire.

“Officers were on patrol on the upper level of that station, they smelled and saw smoke and went to investigate,” Ms Tisch said.

“What they saw was a man standing inside a train car completely engulfed in flames.”

Police are still searching for the identity of the victim and the motive behind the attack.

“Unbeknownst to the officers who responded, the suspect had stayed at the scene and was seated on a bench on the platform just outside the train car,” Ms. Tisch added.

He explained that responding officers were able to see the man “very clearly, in detail” and photos were released by the New York Police Department (NYPD).

Ms. Tisch told reporters that three high-school-aged New Yorkers later called 911 and said they recognized the suspect on another train.

The man was subsequently located and arrested after officers boarded the train and passed through the subway carriages.

Detectives are still trying to determine if the victim was sleeping when she was set on fire, NYPD Joseph Glutta said.

“He’s definitely there, he’s motionless,” added Mr Glutta.

“So to say whether she’s sleeping or not, we’re not 100% sure, but it looks like she’s motionless in that spot.

“There is no interaction between the two. And when the event occurs, there is no interaction between them.”