A man suffered severe burns to his legs with some of his burnt skin found on one of the train seats after he was engulfed in flames and jumped onto an underground platform
A 55-year-old man was engulfed in flames in an underground station just moments after he jumped off a train.
The man suffered severe burns to his legs with burnt skin found on one of the train seats. Initial reports claim the man was homeless and said an unknown person had set his trousers on fire. Burnt paper was also found on the train
Surveillance footage showed the man was engulfed in flames as the train pulled into New York’s Times Square early on Monday morning. The same video showed him collapsing on the platform after jumping off a northbound train at about 3am.
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The man was taken to hospital and is expected to survive the incident. Doctors at Weill Cornell Medical Center treated him for burns to his legs.
Police launched an investigation after the man was taken to hospital. Officers said the man has since changed his story of the events leading up to the incident and has also become uncooperative.
Police say they are still probing the incident and that no arrests had been made so far.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), or 1-888-57-PISTA (74782) for Spanish. All calls are kept confidential, and you can also submit a tip via their website.
There have been horrendous incidents on the New York subway where people have been engulfed in flames. In December last year Debrina Kawam, 57, of New Jersey, was identified as the victim of a seemingly random attack that burned her body beyond recognition.
Sebastian Zapeta, 33, was indicted on charges of murder and arson. He said he had been drinking and did not remember the incident.
In March a 45-year-old man was set on fire in the middle of Times Square. Footage at the time showed the man shirtless and severely burned.
He was rushed by authorities into an ambulance after the flames were put out. His assailant allegedly fled the scene and authorities were unable to say if the attack was random or targeted.
And last month in Chicago a woman was set on fire on a Chicago Transit Authority train after becoming involved in a verbal altercation with a man, the police department said.
