A young woman was struck and killed Monday by a subway in Queens, police said.
The incident occurred around 6:30 a.m. at the Roosevelt Avenue and 74th Street station in Jackson Heights, the ninth busiest in the entire system. The victim — whose age was not immediately clear, but police believed she was a teenager — was struck by a southbound E train and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim suffered some sort of medical episode and fainted, landing on the tracks before the train came into the station, the MTA said. It is believed the teen was heading to school at the time.
Police said no criminality is suspected as of now, and MTA Transit President Richard Davey said it appeared to be "by all accounts a tragic accident." An investigation is ongoing.
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The train operator apparently tried to jam on the brakes but there wasn’t enough time. The MTA had to halt service on the busy line for awhile, and rush hour was backed up for hours.
From January through June of this year, the MTA said 46 people had died after getting struck by subway trains in the city. That's about on par with 2022, when 85 people were killed by trains in the city for the whole year.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Police initially stated the victim was a 10-year-old girl, but later said they did not yet have an exact age. The story reflects the latest information from police.