UPDATE BELOW
: A man was killed and a woman is in critical condition after being hit by an N train in Astoria last night. Both were pinned under the tracks at around 10:40 p.m., requiring authorities to de-energize the tracks, but the man later fell from the tracks to the street, and was pronounced dead at the scene. According to one witness, the man appears to have fallen in after the woman as a northbound train approached, and it didn't look like either could have survived. "They weren't moving at all. There was a lot of blood on the road."
Transit officials shut down N and W service between 36th Avenue and Ditmars Boulevard until 11:30 while they rescued the woman from under the 3rd car of the train and took her to the Elmhurst Hospital Center, where she is currently in critical condition. Witness Kawsar Maruf said, "I saw her body when the fire guy took her. She was young. I thought she was dead." It's unclear what caused the couple to fall.
UPDATE:The man was identified as 29-year-old Jose Gomez of Brooklyn, and was apparently helping the woman retrieve her jacket, which had fallen onto the tracks. He followed her after she jumped down, and both were hit by the oncoming train.
