Hong Kong subway fire suspect: Man who doused flammable liquid on pants now in hot seat

RUSH hour subway fire.  (Warning graphic image). This Hong Kong tourist was among three people in critical condition Saturday after a rush hour fire on a Hong Kong subway train on Friday, February 10, 2017.   Police say one of those critically injured had admitted to starting the fire himself, after dousing his trousers with thinner liquid.  His mental condition is still being checked.  (Photo courtesy Eagle News Service Hong Kong bureau))
RUSH hour subway fire.  (Warning graphic image). This Hong Kong tourist was among three people in critical condition Saturday after a rush hour fire on a Hong Kong subway train on Friday, February 10, 2017.   Police say one of those critically injured had admitted to starting the fire himself, after dousing his trousers with thinner liquid.  His mental condition is still being checked.  (Photo courtesy Eagle News Service Hong Kong contributor Arnold Vinluan)

 

(Eagle News) — This man caught on camera by an Eagle News Service correspondent in Hong Kong trying to douse off the fire off his pants is now in the hot seat.  Police is now investigating him as the suspect who started the fire in the Hong Kong subway.

Witnesses interviewed by Eagle News Service in Hong Kong said this man in the photo was the one who threw a molotov bomb inside one of the trains of the Hong Kong MTR.  But before he threw the Molotov cocktail, he doused his trousers with the flammable liquid, and his pants immediately caught fire. Police are still investigating his mental condition

One witness told Eagle News Service this was the man who was arrested by the police, as he was brought inside the ambulance.

Police only identified him with the surname Cheung, and arrested him for arson.

“The mental condition of the arrested person is one of (the) directions of (the) police’s investigation,” a government statement said Saturday.

There were 17 other persons injured in the Hong Kong subway fire that also caused panic in the platform of the packed and busy packed Tsim Sha Tsui station where the suspect tried to get off. Two other persons were critically burned in the incident.

(with a report from Eagle News Service Hong Kong contributor Cris Lotoy)