'Out of control': Corpses found on New York subway
Two men believed to be homeless have been found dead on the New York subway in separate incidents just hours from each other.
One of the individuals, aged 56, was found by cleaning staff on Friday about 7.30pm (local time), while a second, aged 61, was found Saturday about 8.30am on another train, Daily News reported.
Both men were understood to have died of natural causes, but an official autopsy had yet to reveal if their deaths were the result of COVID-19, according to the publication.
It's believed the men were among the city's homeless community and sought shelter in the increasingly empty subway cars just as hundreds of rough sleepers have during the coronavirus pandemic.
The state of New York in the United States has been well documented for having an alarming number of COVID-19 deaths, having recorded more than 24,000 since the outbreak began.
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On Sunday (local time), there were more than 318,143 confirmed cases in the state, which included more than 174,000 in New York City.
The first man found dead on the train was discovered “slumped over”, while the other was sprawled out across several seats next to a walking frame, Daily News reported.
Last stop
Two homeless men found dead in subways in 13-hour stretch https://t.co/vLbIiL7n9x pic.twitter.com/FoWAO4rZu3— New York Daily News (@NYDailyNews) May 4, 2020
A train staff member said it was “very rare” for people to die while on a train, adding weight to the possibility the men may have been infected with the coronavirus.
“We hear about people dying like that once in a blue moon, not twice in a day,” he told the publication.
Another train worker told The New York Post the homeless situation was “out of control”.
“You don’t even know if the man died of coronavirus,” they told the publication.
City employees who work on the trains of the Metropolitan Transport Authority (MTA) have raised concerns about large numbers of homeless people potentially spreading COVID-19 while occupying cars.
At least 98 MTA workers have died from coronavirus so far.
“Two dead bodies in one 24-hour period is concerning to us,” veteran MTA train operator Yann Hicks told the Post.
“Now there are two incidents in the past few days, and there could be more I don’t know about.”
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