The selfie bug has assumed shades of foolhardiness lately. Not content with taking pictures against conventional backgrounds, some young people have begun clicking selfies in dangerous situations. The result has occasionally been fatal. In the last year alone, at least five people have lost their lives and many have sustained injuries while trying to take their picture atop or near moving trains.
On Monday, three college students travelling to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal stopped to capture a “daredevil selfie” with a running train in the background and, in the attempt, got run over by the train. Aneesh, their friend who survived the incident, told the police that he wanted to take a picture of the daredevilry but the timing went horribly wrong. Before the three could get off the rail tracks, they were mowed down.
Sanjay Kumar, additional station officer at the Kosi police station in Mathura, reportedly confirmed that the friends were trying to take a selfie “as close to a running train as possible”, so that they could upload it to social networking sites.
This fascination of clicking pictures near a train has been taking a toll for the past year:
May 2014: A 15-year-old boy lost his life in Kerala while trying to take a selfie near a moving train. He was accompanied by friends and his brother, some of whom fainted at the sight of the boy getting hit by the train. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
August 2014: In Kerala again, a 14-year-old boy paid with his life for attempting to click his picture atop a train. At the Shoranur railway station, the teen climbed on a freight train unaware of the overhead high tension wires. The live wires electrocuted him, throwing him off the train.
September 2014: Six friends wandering on rail tracks in Mangalore decided to take selfies. One of them, Varsha Alva, a 19-year old student at the Vivekananda College of Engineering and Technology, died instantly as a train hit her. Another person in the group, Rachana, sustained several injuries. Afterwards, a few conflicting reports emerged of the incident, with Alva’s father claiming that her gold ornaments were missing and that she had been “forced” to take the route to admire the scenery.
No lessons were however learnt from this tragedy.
The Bangalore Mirror, quoting locals, reported that people started visiting the spot of Alva’s death out of curiosity, some even taking pictures of the tracks to share on social networks. Yathin, a student, told the newspaper that he found sitting near the tracks relaxing. “I have to cross those tracks to reach college,” he was quoted as saying. “We’ve taken pictures there, even before the accident. These days, especially over the weekends, I see a lot of students. Students go there to relax.”
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On Monday, three college students travelling to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal stopped to capture a “daredevil selfie” with a running train in the background and, in the attempt, got run over by the train. Aneesh, their friend who survived the incident, told the police that he wanted to take a picture of the daredevilry but the timing went horribly wrong. Before the three could get off the rail tracks, they were mowed down.
Sanjay Kumar, additional station officer at the Kosi police station in Mathura, reportedly confirmed that the friends were trying to take a selfie “as close to a running train as possible”, so that they could upload it to social networking sites.
This fascination of clicking pictures near a train has been taking a toll for the past year:
May 2014: A 15-year-old boy lost his life in Kerala while trying to take a selfie near a moving train. He was accompanied by friends and his brother, some of whom fainted at the sight of the boy getting hit by the train. He was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
August 2014: In Kerala again, a 14-year-old boy paid with his life for attempting to click his picture atop a train. At the Shoranur railway station, the teen climbed on a freight train unaware of the overhead high tension wires. The live wires electrocuted him, throwing him off the train.
September 2014: Six friends wandering on rail tracks in Mangalore decided to take selfies. One of them, Varsha Alva, a 19-year old student at the Vivekananda College of Engineering and Technology, died instantly as a train hit her. Another person in the group, Rachana, sustained several injuries. Afterwards, a few conflicting reports emerged of the incident, with Alva’s father claiming that her gold ornaments were missing and that she had been “forced” to take the route to admire the scenery.
No lessons were however learnt from this tragedy.
The Bangalore Mirror, quoting locals, reported that people started visiting the spot of Alva’s death out of curiosity, some even taking pictures of the tracks to share on social networks. Yathin, a student, told the newspaper that he found sitting near the tracks relaxing. “I have to cross those tracks to reach college,” he was quoted as saying. “We’ve taken pictures there, even before the accident. These days, especially over the weekends, I see a lot of students. Students go there to relax.”
