One Person Dies and 16 Are Injured in a Subway Fire in Manhattan

One man died and 16 people were injured after a fire erupted early Friday morning inside a subway car at a stop on the northern border of Central Park, officials said.

A man in his 30s injured in the blaze was pronounced dead at Mount Sinai Hospital, said Lieutenant Thomas Antonetti, a spokesman for the New York Police Department. Sixteen other people, including five firefighters, were injured, said Michael Parrella, a firefighter and spokesman for the New York Fire Department. Four people were in critical condition, and another person was in serious condition but the injuries were not life-threatening.

The five firefighters suffered minor injuries, Mr. Parrella said.

The fire erupted at 3:18 a.m. on a northbound No. 2 train at the 110th Street Central Park North stop, and 106 emergency personnel responded. It was brought under control at about 3:50 a.m., he said.

It is unclear how the fire began or whether it started inside or outside the car, Lieutenant Antonetti said.

“That’s what they’re trying to ascertain,” he said.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the subway in New York, wrote on Twitter at 3:24 a.m. that it was trying to remove a train from service at the station, and then said that it had “removed power on all tracks to allow the Fire Department to extinguish a fire” there. The agency briefly suspended some No. 1 train service, and at about 6:45 a.m. said firefighters were still working to extinguish the flames.