Tragic Subway Incident Involving 12-Year-Old Brooklyn Girl

A 12-year-old girl from Brooklyn, Zemfira Mukhtarov, tragically lost her life during a subway surfing incident. In the weeks prior, she had shared a daring TikTok video, which included footage of herself lying on the subway tracks.

Zemfira’s mother, Natalya Rudenko, expressed her deep grief, revealing that her daughter had become fixated on performing social media stunts, even sneaking out late at night. “I’m often at work, and I really don’t know what she’s up to,” Rudenko said, recalling a moment when she caught her daughter pretending to hold the city from the Williamsburg Bridge.

Despite warnings from her mother about the dangers of such activities, Zemfira continued to engage in risky stunts throughout New York City.

In one TikTok video, she dared to lie on the tracks, while another recorded her walking on a thin beam as a train passed below. Unfortunately, her adventurous spirit led her to a fatal incident early Saturday during a ride on the J train near the Mercy Avenue Broadway station.

After finishing her shift, Rudenko returned home to discover Zemfira had sneaked out before 3 AM, leaving her family unaware. Shortly after, both Zemfira and her 13-year-old friend, Eva Molina, were found unconscious near Williamsburg Station and were later pronounced dead.

Rudenko described her daughter’s drastic change in behavior over time, noting that Zemfira had shifted from a typical child who enjoyed volleyball, martial arts, and music lessons to seeking thrills in dangerous ways, even posting her escapades online.

She reflected on her inability to control her daughter, expressing, “She’s not the kind of child who would just stay in her room.”

While Rudenko doesn’t know much about Molina, she suspects the girls may have connected online. Reports indicate they were among a group of teens that had been playing around the train area before the tragic event.

Zemfira’s father, Ruslan Mukhtarov, originally from Azerbaijan, joined the family in New York after Rudenko’s move. He created a GoFundMe page to raise money for his daughter’s funeral, which quickly garnered nearly $17,000 in donations.

In light of this tragedy, city officials have been stressing the importance of safety, urging teenagers to avoid subway surfing. Hazardous stunts inspired by social media have led to six fatalities last year and five in 2023, compared to only five deaths inside subway trains from 2018 to 2022.