Navam Kaul and Malaika Chitre were both 24 years old, recent Rutgers graduates and longtime friends. In the early hours of Sunday morning, they were struck and killed by a No. 4 train at Spring Street station in Manhattan. Disturbing footage showing the pair sitting calmly on the tracks as the train approached has since circulated widely online, leaving viewers stunned by how unaware they appeared to be of what was coming.
Kaul fell or otherwise ended up on the tracks first, at around 3:15am. Chitre descended after him, apparently attempting to pull him to safety. The train operator told supervisors that Chitre appeared to be laughing as she tried to move him. The operator had insufficient time to brake before the train struck both of them. No suicide notes were found at the scene, though that possibility has not yet been formally ruled out.
Investigators are now examining a theory that could explain why neither appeared to react to the approaching train.
According to law enforcement sources cited by the New York Post, investigators are looking into whether one or both of them may have been so intoxicated at the time that they failed to fully comprehend the danger they were in. The footage of their final moments, in which they appear entirely calm as the train bears down on them, has led authorities to consider whether extreme disorientation could account for the lack of any visible reaction.
There is currently no confirmation that either Kaul or Chitre was intoxicated. Authorities have not established how the pair came to be on the tracks or what happened in the minutes immediately before the collision, and the investigation remains ongoing.
The deaths have added to growing scrutiny of safety on the New York City subway system. They came just over a week after MTA worker and mother of three Moet McCullum, 41, was struck and killed by a D train while working as a construction flagger at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium station on September 3. A 2024 report found that the number of people struck by subway trains had risen considerably in recent years, with 241 people hit during 2023 alone, including 97 fatalities.
