New York subway fire: Victim speaks out after being doused with flaming liquid and set on fire on the No. 1 train in Manhattan, New York

NEW YORK CITY — A man speaks out after being set on fire Saturday aboard a subway train in New York.

In exclusive video obtained by Eyewitness News, first responders are seen rushing to help Petrit Alijaj after a stranger doused him with a flaming liquid.

At the time, the victim, aged 23, was with his fiancée and his cousins ​​on a No. 1 train. After the attack, the video shows Alijaj shirtless and in visible pain.

“I was on the train and a maniac set fire to my body, and he got out of the train,” Alijaj said by telephone from the hospital.

Alijaj says it happened in a split second around 2:45 p.m. Saturday as his southbound train pulled into the Houston Street station in Manhattan. He tells Eyewitness News the suspect didn't say anything to him, but just gave him a strange look.

“He had a cup with the fire and the train stopped at Houston Street. We thought when he was going to the ground, we thought he was leaving, he was going down. He waited for the door to open and then he set fire to me,” Alijaj said.

Alijaj now has burns all over his body.

Fortunately, no one with him was injured. He says he managed to protect his family from the burning liquid.

“When I saw it, I protected others with my body,” he said.

Aljaj says he's traumatized and the only place he's ever seen something like this is in movies.

Police arrested Nile Taylor, 49, shortly after Saturday's incident.

Taylor is charged with assault, arson and reckless engagement. He is also accused of petty theft and criminal possession of a weapon.

Unrelated to the incident, authorities separately charged Taylor with criminal possession of stolen property, after recovering a phone that a woman had dropped on the station platform.

Although the suspect is in custody, this brings little comfort to Alijaj.

“They caught this guy, they will keep him in prison for a week and they will release him,” Alijaj said.