A teenage girl was killed Friday morning in what appeared to be a “train surfing incident” near the Silver Spring Metro station, according to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
Around 10:30 a.m., Metro Transit police officers responded to the report of a juvenile female found dead near the Silver Spring Metro station at 8400 Colesville Road, WMATA spokesperson Jordan Pascale said. WMATA did not release the victim’s name or age.
Transit police said the death appeared to result from train surfing and that the investigation is ongoing, according to Pascale.
Train or subway surfing is the act of riding on top or in between rapid transit cars.
The Metrorail Info social media account posted at 3:36 p.m. that travel delays are ongoing in both directions between the Silver Spring and Forest Glen stations “following an earlier medical emergency at Silver Spring.”
“We are deeply saddened to learn that a teenage girl lost her life this morning while riding outside of a train car en route to the Silver Spring station,” Metro wrote in a statement. “Our thoughts are with the victim’s family.”
Metro urges riders who see anything illegal or suspicious during their transit to call Metro Transit police at 202-962-2121 or alert a Metro employee.
“Riding outside of a train is dangerous, illegal, and highly likely to lead to severe injury or death,” Metro wrote in a statement. “Signage is posted on bulkhead doors between railcars warning customers that walking between railcars is dangerous and prohibited unless in an emergency.”
This is the second death in less than a year that appears to involve Metro train surfing. In June, Jay Thirunarayanapuram, 15, of Silver Spring fell from a moving train near the Rhode Island Avenue-Brentwood Metro Station while filming himself attempting to train surf.