Deadly Thrill: The Subway Surfing Challenge Claiming Young Lives in America

American teenagers doing ‘subway surfing’ by jumping on top of a moving subway. Captured by

According to foreign media such as CNN on the 2nd (local time), the New York Police Department announced, on 27 October this year, that 6 people died while ‘subway surfing’ and 181 people were arrested.

Last year, it was reported that 5 people were killed and 118 people were arrested.

‘Subway surfing’ refers to the act of riding a moving subway. Teenagers have been doing this for years, mostly for the purpose of uploading TikTok challenge videos.

The latest incident took place in Queens, New York, on the 27th of last month. Girls aged 12 and 13 lost their balance while surfing the subway and fell between vehicles. A 13-year-old girl died, and a 12-year-old girl was seriously injured.

On the 23rd of last month, a 13-year-old boy died while taking part in the challenge. The boy’s mother had seen her son’s post before and warned him not to get on the train. However, the boy did not listen to his mother’s words and tried to ‘subway surf’ again and eventually died.

“This dangerous, thrill-seeking behavior has life-changing consequences,” the NYPD said. “It’s not worth your life or the pain it brings to your family and friends,” he said.

New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has reportedly cooperated with major social media platforms (SNS) such as YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram to remove approximately 10,000 posts related to subway surfing.

Experts pointed out that SNS is the cause of reckless imitative behavior in teenagers.

Fourteen attorneys general from across the United States sued TikTok, holding it responsible for spreading the dangerous challenge.

TikTok said, “We strongly oppose these allegations. “Many of these are wrong and misleading,” he said. “We are proud of the work we have done to protect young people. “We provide strong security measures and have launched voluntary security features for users suspected of being minors,” he said.

Kim Ye-seul, Donga.com reporter seul56@donga.com