A nurse who allegedly set a female colleague on fire in a break room at a New Jersey hospital has been found dead in an apparent suicide, authorities say.

       Contract nurse Nicholas Pagano, 31, fled Hackensack University Medical Center after allegedly bashing a 54-year-old worker over the head with a blunt instrument and setting her on fire on Monday morning.

       The victim suffered third-degree burns to her upper body and hands, and required stitches for a laceration to her head.

       The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office issued an urgent alert that Mr Pagano was armed and dangerous and was likely travelling in a 1998 white Jeep Grand Cherokee.

       Law enforcement sources told NBC4 that Mr Pagano, of West Deptford, was found dead in woods in Winslow Township, South Jersey, on Tuesday morning.

       He is thought to have stolen a gun from his brother’s home.

       The hospital said in a statement that Mr Pagano was an agency worker and had passed a background check.

       The injured co-worker was being treated in a different hospital for severe burns to her face, body and hands, and is said to be in a critical but stable condition.