Two girls die while 'subway surfing' in New York City

Two girls, 12-year-old Zemfira Mukhtarov from Brooklyn and 13-year-old Ebba Morina from Manhattan, were found dead at the Marcy Avenue subway station in Brooklyn after authorities responded to a 911 call just after 3 a.m. on Saturday, October 4, according to PEOPLE.

Authorities believe the girls were "subway surfing," as both bodies were discovered on top of a subway car. Zemfira's mother, Nataliya Rudenko, shared that Zemfira had met a 13-year-old girl on social media and sneaked out of their Bay Ridge home for a late-night adventure when the incident occurred.

Ebba Morina/Photo

Nataliya told FOX 5 NY she learned about the tragedy while watching the news. She was making breakfast when her 11-year-old daughter noticed her sister's skateboard and purse in the TV footage and said, "Mommy, that’s Zemfira’s," Rudenko recalled. Initially, Nataliya dismissed her daughter's claim, saying, "No, it’s someone else’s."

Zemfira Mukhtarov

There has reportedly been an increase in deaths related to subway surfing in New York. FOX 5 stated that the NYPD has used drones to intercept over 130 children this year who were riding outside trains, some as young as nine years old, helping to prevent further tragedies. NYPD Chief of Transit Christopher Gulotta mentioned that this trend is part of a larger phenomenon known as 'urban exploring.' "They’re not just subway surfing," he explained. "They’re going into tunnels and layup locations. It’s incredibly dangerous."

Tragically, Zemfira's birthday was just less than two weeks away. Her father, Ruslan Mukhtarov, set up a GoFundMe to help cover her funeral expenses.

This is truly an unfortunate situation.

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