New York City police investigate the death of a woman found on fire in subway car

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.

Police said they were still investigating the victim’s identity and the reason for the attack.

About four million trips are taken each weekday on the city’s subway, where violent crime is relatively rare. As of November, there had been nine homicides reported on the subway in 2024, compared to five in the same period in 2023, according to police data.

There was another fatality on the New York subway on Sunday with police responding to an emergency call at 12.35am for an assault in progress at the 61st Street-Woodside Station in Queens and found a 37-year-old man with a stab wound to his torso and a 26-year-old man with multiple slashes throughout his body. The older man was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital while the younger man was in stable condition, police said.

An investigation is continuing.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul this year has sent New York National Guard members to the city’s subway system to help police conduct random searches of riders’ bags for weapons following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains. Hochul recently deployed additional members to help patrol during the holiday season.

AP, Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.