The mother of a 12-year-old girl who tragically died while engaging in social media challenges has disclosed how she pleaded with her daughter to cease her risky behavior before she sneaked out at night to film another daring video.
Zemfira Mukhtarov, only 12 years old, lost her life in a subway surfing incident after sharing alarming daredevil videos on TikTok, including one where she laid on train tracks, in the period leading up to her untimely death.
Videos of young Zemfira from Brooklyn were shared by The New York Post, revealing her obsession with performing dangerous stunts for social media despite her parents’ earnest pleas for her to stop. Her mother recounted warning her daughter about the dangers and urging her to refrain from such activities.
Despite her mother’s warnings, Zemfira persisted in taking extreme risks, even recording a TikTok video of herself lying on subway tracks as a train passed over her. Tragically, she was fatally injured near the Marcy Avenue-Broadway station in Brooklyn, New York City.
Upon returning from work, Ms. Rudenko discovered that her adventurous daughter had snuck out of the house before 3 am while her younger sister and father were asleep. Zemfira, along with her 13-year-old friend, Ebba Morina of Manhattan, were found unconscious near the Williamsburg station around 3:10 am and later pronounced deceased.
The young girl had developed an obsession with performing stunts, including subway activities, trespassing in vacant properties, and scaling high-rise buildings, often sharing these risky endeavors online.
Ms. Rudenko expressed unfamiliarity with the other girl accompanying her daughter, believing they may have connected online. Authorities reported up to 15 youths present inside the train before the tragic incident. Zemfira’s father, Ruslan Mukhtarov, initiated a GoFundMe campaign to cover his daughter’s funeral expenses and memorial service, raising nearly AU$25,000 (£12,299) in donations.
Meanwhile, city officials continue to caution teenagers and young individuals against subway surfing, a perilous trend increasingly popularized through social media, resulting in six fatalities last year and five in 2023.
In a separate incident, an 11-year-old British boy passed away following his involvement in a dangerous social media craze. Tommie-Lee Gracie Billington suffered a suspected cardiac arrest after participating in ‘chroming,’ as reported by his family.
His grieving grandmother, Tina Burns, urged social media platforms to enhance child protection measures after the tragic event occurred during a stay at a friend’s residence. Chroming, also referred to as huffing or sniffing, involves inhaling toxic substances like paint, solvents, aerosols, cleaning agents, or petrol, leading to serious health risks.
A TikTok representative informed the Mirror that there is no indication of chroming being a specific challenge on TikTok or trending on their platform.
