Video: Woman dies in New York subway after being set on fire

Warning: this article contains sensitive images.

A terrifying video shows how a woman died after going up in flames on the New York subway.

According to various reports, the woman was sleeping in a subway carriage when a Guatemalan man allegedly set her on fire with what is believed to have been a lighter.

The New York Police Department (NYPD) reported that the tragic event occurred at the Stillwell Avenue subway station, in Coney Island, at around 7:30 a.m. The NYPD said the woman was on a parked F train.

According to initial official details, while the woman was sleeping, the suspect approached the victim and set her on fire just before leaving the car. Then, the officers patrolling the place perceived the smell and smoke and they found the woman, who was declared dead by the emergency services at the scene.

A sensitive video circulated on social networks showing the woman standing while on fire as the suspect stared at her while sitting on a bench right in front of the carriage.

The captured suspect, who was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt, blue jeans, a dark cap with a red band and brown boots, matched the description of the NYPD, which released several photos of the man of Guatemalan nationality.

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch described the act as "one of the most depraved crimes one person could possibly commit."

"As the train pulled into the station, the suspect calmly walked up to the victim, who was in a seated position at the end of a subway car … and used what we believe to be a lighter to ignite the victim’s clothing, which became fully engulfed in a matter of seconds," Tisch told a news conference.

In the video, you can also see how a Transit Police officer walked by and appeared to pull out his radio and say something as he continued down the platform.

According to the released videos, an officer asked the immigrant suspect to leave the scene because he needed to clear the area. Tisch explained that the responding officers did not know at that precise moment that the man sitting on the bench in front of the victim was the prime suspect.

However, the officers' body cameras were critical, as they reproduced a clear and detailed view of the alleged killer, who was later arrested after three high school students called authorities to confirm that they saw the suspect the NYPD had identified as the perpetrator.

Responding officers found the suspect on another train leaving the station wearing the same clothing he was wearing when he allegedly set the woman on fire earlier.

The NYPD's Crime Stoppers phone number is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information about the incident.

Several people said they were horrified by what happened, including officials from the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority and everyday subway users.

"It just looked like all the clothes were burnt off," one worker told the New York Post. "I was just walking by. The cops was 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."

“That s–t is crazy — it’s only three days until Christmas,” he added. “That’s messed up.”

The event comes just three days before Christmas in a year marked by a spike in serious crime on the New York subway, including a 60% increase in homicides inside the railway system.