Two pre-teens killed in New York subway surfing incident after posting risky TikTok videos

SHAH ALAM – A 12-year-old girl from Brooklyn and her 13-year-old friend have died after a subway surfing attempt in New York City went tragically wrong, reigniting concern over the growing trend of dangerous stunts shared on social media platforms like TikTok.

According to a report by NBC News, Zemfira Mukhtarov, 12, was known among her friends for posting thrill-seeking videos online, including clips of her lying on train tracks and standing on high bridges.

Her mother Nataliya Rudenko said she had repeatedly warned her daughter about the dangers of such stunts but could not stop her from sneaking out of their Brooklyn home on the night of the incident.

“I (am) always working and I don’t know what she’s doing, what time she’s doing.

“One time I see she is on the top of the Williamsburg Bridge, [pretending to] hold our city on her hand,” Rudenko told the New York Post.

Mukhtarov reportedly met her 13-year-old friend, Ebba Morina from Manhattan, after sneaking out in the early hours of Oct 4. Both girls were later found dead at the Marcy Avenue subway station in Brooklyn when authorities responded to a 3 am emergency call, People reported.

New York City Transit Authority (NYCTA) President Demetrius Crichlow described the incident as “heartbreaking,” urging parents, educators and friends to talk openly about the life-threatening risks of subway surfing.

“It’s heartbreaking that two young girls are gone because they somehow thought riding outside a subway train was an acceptable game. The tragedy left the girls’ families and transit workers “horribly shaken," Crichlow said, as quoted by People.

Mukhtarov’s family learned of her death while watching local news coverage.

Her younger sister, Maryam, recognised Zemfira’s skateboard and purse among footage of the scene.

“She said, ‘Mommy, that’s Zemfira’s,’” Rudenko told FOX affiliate WNYW. “I said, no, it’s someone else’s. But it was her.”

Zemfira was just weeks away from her 13th birthday. Her younger sister described her as her “best friend” and has since spoken publicly to warn other children against trying similar stunts.

“She was always there for me. She was everything for me,” Maryam said in an interview with ABC affiliate WABC. “The thrill isn’t worth it.”

Her father, Ruslan Mukhtarov, has since launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover funeral expenses, describing Zemfira as “full of life” and calling the loss “heartbreaking.”

“No parent should ever have to face the pain of losing a child and no child should lose their life in such a tragic way,” he wrote on the page.

Authorities said at least four people died in New York last year from similar subway surfing incidents, according to police data cited by People.

The NYPD continues to warn that riding outside moving trains is both illegal and deadly.