Indian-origin woman, Nepali-American friend crushed to death by subway train in New York

An Indian-origin woman and her Nepali-American friend were killed after a subway train struck them while they were sitting on the tracks at a station in Lower Manhattan, according to The New York Post. The woman has been identified as Malaika Chitre, of Dayton, New Jersey, and her friend was identified as Navam Kaul, of Sayreville, New Jersey. Both 24-year-old were on the roadbed at the Spring Street subway station when they were hit by a southbound No 4 train around 3:15 am, the New York Police Department (NYPD) said. Chitre worked as an operations specialist at Acadia Pharmaceuticals, while Kaul was a financial data analyst at Bloomberg, according to their LinkedIn profiles. Both were Rutgers University alumni and graduated around the same time.A video of the incident has surfaced on social media. Chitre was pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy studies at Temple University

The police said that both were pronounced dead at the scene. About 100 passengers were evacuated from the train following the incident, according to the New York Daily News. It is not known Chitre and Kaul were on the tracks. The matter is being investigated. The New York Post stated that law-enforcement sources said that detectives were examining whether the two may have been intoxicated and failed to realise the danger until it was too late. Sources said no suicide notes were found.

Rajnikant Pipalia, who told the Post his son was a friend of Kaul, said that Kaul's family immigrated from Nepal. Kaul and Chitre "grew up in the same world" and were part of the "same South Asian group hanging out together, enjoying the same festivals," Pipalia told the Post.