A doomed man and woman fatally struck while sitting on the tracks in a Manhattan subway station may have been so wasted they didn’t realize until too late that a train was barreling down on them, sources said.
The man – identified as Navam Kaul, 24 – fell or made his way onto the tracks inside the Spring Street subway station early Sunday, prompting Malaika Chitre, also 24, to go down to help him, the law-enforcement sources said.
Chitre appeared to try to pull Kaul toward her, before the pair were hit by the oncoming No. 4 train at around 3:15 a.m., according to the sources.
The young woman and man are seen on the tracks as a subway barrels towards them.
Malaika Chitre was ID’d as the woman in the tragic incident. TikTok/mal
A 24-year-old woman and a man believed to be in his 20s were killed after being struck by a southbound 4 train at Manhattan’s Spring Street station around 3:14 a.m. Sunday.
The pair were on the roadbed as the train entered the station, and the operator was unable to stop in… pic.twitter.com/h7u7FuoRev
— Crime In NYC (@Crime_In_NYC) September 13, 2026
The train’s operator told her supervisors that Chitre appeared to be laughing as she pulled Kaul, sources said.
Harrowing video capturing their final moments, and widely shared on social media, showed both of them seemingly calmly sitting on the tracks before the rushing train struck them.
The operator didn’t have time to hit the brakes before the train struck Chitre and Kaul, sources said.
Chitre, pictured, reportedly made her way onto the tracks to help the man, identified as Navam Kaul, 24. Facebook/Malaika Chitre
Chitre is pictured with her dog, Swiss, in a TikTok posted on Nov. 25, 2022. TikTok/mal
Navam Kaul in an undated photo. Kaul and Malaika Chitre were struck and killed by a subway train early Sunday. Facebook/Navam Kaul
Workers gather after two were fatally struck by a subway train at the Spring Street – Lafayette Street 6 train subway station in New York, NY, on Sept. 10, 2026. Christopher Sadowski for NY Post
Investigators were looking into whether one or both victims were so intoxicated they didn’t understand the gravity of the situation before it was too late, sources said.
No suicide notes were found, the sources said, though that has not yet been ruled out as the motive.
The tragedy came just a little over a week after MTA worker and mom of three Moet McCullum, 41, was killed when a D train fatally struck her at the 161st Street-Yankee Stadium .
McCullum, a construction flagger — who alert oncoming-train operators of active work zones — was on southbound tracks around 11:30 p.m. Sept. 3 when she was hit, MTA officials said.
The number of MTA subway trains colliding with straphangers, whether fatally and not, rose dramatically since 2018, The City Reporter first outlined in 2024.
During 2023, MTA officials tallied 241 people hit by trains, the report states. Of those, 97 were fatal.
When asked how many people this year were struck and killed by subway trains, MTA officials referred The Post to their counterparts at the NYPD. Police officials didn’t immediately respond as of Monday afternoon.
The city’s medical examiner didn’t respond for comment on the cause of death for Chitre and Kaul.
– Additional reporting by Amanda Woods