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A heartbreaking tragedy has shaken the Upper East Side after 13-year-old Ebba Morina lost her life in a fatal subway surfing incident over the weekend.
Ebba, a local teen remembered by family as a bright and joyful spirit, died early Saturday morning while riding on top of a J train as it crossed the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn. She and her 12-year-old friend, Zemfira Mukhtarov, were reportedly struck by a low-hanging beam while the train was in motion. Both girls suffered fatal head injuries and were discovered on top of the last subway car when the train arrived at the Marcy Avenue station.
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Family, friends, and community members gathered Tuesday night at the Farenga Brothers Funeral Home in the Bronx to mourn Ebba. Her white coffin, surrounded by pink light and a large floral arrangement, was accompanied by a slideshow of photos from her life—images that captured her from infancy through her teenage years. More than a hundred people attended the viewing, with mourners overflowing into an adjacent room.“It’s a terrible tragedy,” one relative told the NY Daily News. “She was a wonderful girl.”
The accident has brought renewed attention to the dangerous and growing trend of subway surfing—where individuals, often teenagers, climb onto moving trains to perform stunts or record videos for social media. Zemfira, who also died in Saturday’s incident, had previously posted videos to TikTok showing herself in perilous situations on the subway. Her account has since been removed.
Despite city efforts to curb the behavior—ranging from public service announcements to drone surveillance and celebrity-backed warnings—subway surfing has persisted. This year alone, at least five New Yorkers have died while engaging in it, matching 2023’s total and just one less than in 2024.
In July, a 15-year-old boy died while atop a No. 7 train approaching Queensboro Plaza. In June, a 14-year-old was critically injured after falling from a No. 5 train in the Bronx. And in March, a 13-year-old suffered minor injuries when he fell off an R train in Brooklyn.
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