Two young girls lost their lives in the early hours of Saturday, October 4, 2025, in what authorities believe was a subway surfing incident at Marcy Avenue station in Brooklyn, New York. Responding to a 911 call at approximately 3:10 a.m., police discovered the girls unconscious and unresponsive atop a J train that had traveled over the Williamsburg Bridge from Manhattan into Brooklyn.
The deceased, aged 12 and 13, were declared dead at the scene by medical personnel.
Police sources indicated that the girls appeared to have sustained head injuries from colliding with a low beam while on top of the train. The train’s emergency brake activated as it entered the station, leading the conductor to find the two girls on the roof of the last car.
Authorities questioned two teenage boys found on the train to ascertain if they were with the girls. Witnesses noted the girls were part of a group of about 15 teenagers running inside the train before the incident.
One victim was identified as 12-year-old Zemfira Mukhtarov, days shy of her 13th birthday. Her 11-year-old sister, Maryam Mukhtarov, spoke of her loss, calling Zemfira her best friend and saying “she was everything for me.”
Zemfira’s mother, Nataliya Rudenko, mentioned that her daughter had met a 13-year-old girl, Ebba Morina, on social media and snuck out for a nighttime “adventure.” She recognized Zemfira’s belongings on TV Saturday morning, confirming the tragedy.
New York City Transit President Demetrius Crichlow extended condolences and warned against the perilous activity. “Getting on top of a subway car isn’t ‘surfing’ — it’s suicide,” he stated, urging parents, educators, and peers to highlight the risks to the youth.
The incident led to a temporary suspension of J train service between Brooklyn’s Myrtle Avenue and Manhattan’s Delancey Street-Essex Street station, resuming normal operations by early morning.
This event came hours after another subway surfing occurrence in Queens, where on October 3, a 14-year-old boy was hospitalized after falling off a Manhattan-bound Number 7 train. The boy, who sustained serious facial cuts, faced charges of reckless endangerment before being released to his parents.
The fatalities bring the number of subway surfing deaths in New York City to five in 2025, nearing the six from 2024 and matching the five recorded in 2023. Police data reflect an increase, with five total deaths reported between 2018 and 2022.
Since the NYPD began monitoring subway surfing, arrests have varied, with 229 in 2024, up from 135 in 2023; however, arrests decreased by 25 percent to 128 through September 2025, compared to 162 in the same period in 2024.
Recent incidents included the death of 15-year-old Carlos Oliver from the Bronx on July 4, after falling from a southbound Number 7 train at Queensboro Plaza. In March, 12-year-old Gustavo Guaman-Quizhpilema from Queens died four days after being critically injured on top of a Number 7 train at the 111th Street station in Corona.
City and transit authorities have implemented strategies to curb the dangerous trend. The NYPD has utilized drones over subway lines since November 2023 to identify potential surfers, leading to approximately 200 rescues, predominantly of teenagers. By June 2025, officials had rescued subway surfers from trains 52 times before incidents occurred.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority initiated a campaign named “Subway Surfing Kills — Ride Inside, Stay Alive” in 2023, aimed at deterring youth from this behavior. The campaign features Queens-born BMX athlete Nigel Sylvester and public service announcements by Bronx native rapper Cardi B.
Efforts to prevent the spread of subway surfing videos have included cooperation with social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The MTA reported that over 1,800 videos depicting train rooftop rides had been removed by June 2025.
Legal challenges have also arisen, such as a lawsuit filed by Norma Nazario, whose 15-year-old son Zackery died in 2023. The suit accuses ByteDance, TikTok, and Meta of designing platforms that expose minors to harmful content, including subway surfing challenges.
Transit officials persist in highlighting the dangers of subway surfing through regular announcements and ongoing awareness campaigns. Crichlow noted the significant impact on both the families of the victims and the transit workers involved in discovering the girls.
