A young man and woman were crushed to death by an oncoming train in a lower Manhattan subway station — apparently after one of them fell onto the tracks and the other jumped off the platform to help, transit sources said Monday.
The woman was laughing and pulling the man toward her when they were run over by a downtown No. 4 train operating on the local tracks inside the Spring St. station just before 3:15 a.m. Sunday, according to an initial MTA report obtained by the Daily News. A police source said investigators are trying to determine if alcohol was involved.
Horrifying video showing the pair on the tracks as the train pulled in has emerged on social media.
The victims, both 24, were identified Monday as Navam Kaul of Sayreville, N.J., and Malaika Chitre of Dayton, N.J., both of whom had attended Rutgers University.
It was unclear whether the man or the woman fell to the tracks first, but the report seems to indicate the second victim had gotten onto the tracks to help the other up. The disaster unfolded near the uptown end of the station, according to the MTA report.
As the train bore down on the two, the train operator told supervisors she “saw a man and woman sitting on the track,” according to the incident report. She told supervisors “the woman was laughing and pulling the male toward her when the train came in contact,” the report continues.
Four cars of the 10-car No. 4 train made it into the station before the emergency brakes stopped the subway.
Kaul and Chitre died at the scene, their bodies recovered from under the third and fourth cars of the train.
Both victims formerly studied at Rutgers University, according to a spokeswoman for the university.
Kaul attended the Rutgers Business School in New Brunswick from fall 2020 to spring 2024, but did not receive a degree, Chitre received a bachelor of science degree in May 2024 from Rutgers-New Brunswick School of Arts and Sciences
“We are saddened to learn of the tragic death of these two former students,” said Dory Devlin, assistant vice president of news and media relations at Rutgers.
The downtown local track curves slightly before entering the Spring St. station. It was not immediately clear at what point the train operator was able to see the pair on the tracks.
Approximately 100 passengers were aboard at the time of the incident. They were evacuated onto the platform.
On average, 223 people were struck by trains annually over the past five years, according to MTA data. Last year, 228 people were injured either in train strikes or from falling between cars, 89 of whom died.
Through August this year, 124 people have been struck by or have fallen from a subway. 58 of those people died as a result.
