Hong Kong rescue personnel remove an injured passenger after a fire broke out on the city's subway system on February 10, 2017 (AFP Photo/Handout)

Hong Kong (AFP) - Hong Kong police said Friday they have arrested a man for arson after a fire engulfed a subway train, injuring 17 people and triggering the evacuation of a major station during rush hour. Police have arrested a man on suspicion of arson and said there was no evidence to indicate the fire was a terror attack. Police District Commander Kwok Pak-chung said the 60-year-old man told rescuers as he was being taken to a hospital that he was the one who set the fire, and that he had done so for an unspecified personal reason. Videos circulating on social media showed a chaotic scene of the fire inside the subway car and a man lying on the platform as people frantically used clothing to try to put out flames on his pants. The fire broke out at around 7:00 local time inside an underground train crossing the Vitoria Harbor for the busy Tsim Sha Tsui station, forcing the train to stop at the station and all the passengers to be evacuated, public broadcaster RTHK reported.
In Hong Kong, over 16 were injured, and an incoherent man was charged with arson after an alleged firebomb attack on a rush hour Hong Kong metro commuter train. The man set fire to himself and others with a flammable liquid for an unspecified personal reason, but officials found no evidence of a terrorist motive.