A tragic incident occurred Sunday morning on an F train in Coney Island when a sleeping woman was set on fire by a man who threw a lit match at her, causing her to burst into flames, according to police sources.

The NYPD responded to a fire alert shortly before 7:30 a.m. at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue subway station. Officers arrived to find the woman on an idle F train, fully engulfed in flames, police told The Post.

The woman was discovered surrounded by liquor bottles, although authorities did not immediately determine whether the bottles were involved in the fire, sources said.

Authorities suspect that the woman was asleep when a man seated across from her stood up, walked past, and tossed a lit match onto her, setting her on fire, sources added.

The assailant, who is believed to be in his 20s, fled the scene shortly after the attack, sources revealed.

Emergency responders extinguished the flames, and EMS personnel pronounced the woman dead at the scene, police said.

This gruesome attack occurred just as Governor Kathy Hochul had ordered an additional 250 National Guard troops to patrol New York City’s subways for the holiday season, expanding the New York Army National Guard’s subway deployment to 1,000 troops, part of a $100 million initiative. An estimated eight million visitors were expected to visit the city during the holidays.

Governor Hochul defended her decision to deploy National Guard troops into the subway system, claiming that it had contributed to a significant reduction in transit-related crimes, with subway crime falling by 10%.

However, despite the governor’s actions, murders on New York City subways have risen by at least 60% this year, according to data compiled in September.

As of September 8, eight people had been killed on subway cars or in stations, an increase from five deaths during the same period the previous year, according to NYPD data.

The horrific incident on the F train was just the latest in a violent 24-hour period within New York City’s transit system.

— In the early hours of Sunday, an argument among five men aboard a southbound 7 train at Woodside Avenue and 61st Street in Queens escalated into a fatal confrontation.

During the altercation, a 69-year-old man fatally stabbed one individual in the chest and another in the face, police reported.

The man who was stabbed in the chest later succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. The suspect is in custody and awaiting charges, authorities said.

— Later that morning, at approximately 4:30 a.m., a passenger aboard a northbound D train became enraged and threw a can at the conductor, leading to the train being taken out of service. The 38-year-old conductor was transported to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, where he was reported to be in stable condition.

The individual responsible for the attack was not arrested at the time, police noted.

{Matzav.com}