A SLEEPING woman was tragically burned to death after a man reportedly set her on fire inside a subway in New York.
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.
NYPD officers discovered a woman engulfed in flames while investigating the source of a smoke smell at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station.
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 man, believed to be in his 20s, then fled the station.
They have now launched a manhunt for the suspect, and are investigating the death as a homicide.
He was last seen wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, a dark-colored knit hat with a red band and brown boots.
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.
