Two 24-year-old university friends have been killed by a New York subway train after ending up on the tracks at Canal Street station in lower Manhattan.
Navam Kaul and Malaika Chitre died when a Number 4 train struck them at about 3.15am on Monday. Footage recorded by passengers appeared to show the pair sitting together in the path of the train.
Police believe Ms Chitre may have gone on to the tracks in an attempt to save Mr Kaul, rather than the deaths being the result of a suicide pact as speculated on social media.
Police investigate how the pair reached the tracks
Investigators believe Mr Kaul may have fallen or climbed down first, prompting Ms Chitre to follow him. Police sources said she appeared to be trying to pull him towards her shortly before the train arrived, possibly in an effort to move him out of danger.
It remains unclear why the pair appeared to be sitting calmly on the tracks. Police are investigating whether either had taken drugs or alcohol, which may have left them unaware of the danger.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that one or both intended to take their own lives, but no suicide note has been found.
The train driver attempted to apply the emergency brakes, but was unable to stop in time. Both victims were killed instantly.
Friends from Rutgers University
Mr Kaul and Ms Chitre met at Rutgers University, where they moved in the same social circles despite studying different subjects. They later became close friends.
Ms Chitre had graduated in 2024 and was working as a quality operations specialist at Acadia Pharmaceuticals in Princeton, New Jersey. She had also recently begun a doctorate in pharmacy at Temple University in Philadelphia.
During her time at Rutgers, she was a scholarship coordinator for the Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority and public relations director for the Ashley Lauren Foundation. Her social media showed trips to Italy with friends and attendance at a Tame Impala concert in the months before her death.
Mr Kaul worked as a financial data analyst at Bloomberg in New York, where he had been employed for about a year and a half. He grew up in Sayreville, New Jersey, after his parents moved there from Nepal about 30 years ago.
