Three teenagers were killed while taking selfies on a railway track in India, the nation that researchers say has the worst record for selfie-related deaths.
A fourth teenager managed to jump to safety before the accident in Panipat in the northern state of Haryana, a police officer said yesterday.
“The victims were busy taking selfies and when they saw a train approaching they jumped to a second track without realizing another train was coming on that,” M.S. Dabas said. “One of them saved his life as he jumped on the other side of the track.”
WEDDING GUESTS
The group had traveled to Panipat to attend a wedding. Two of those killed were 19 years old and the third was 18.
Experts said that youngsters obsessed with social media are going to extreme lengths to post selfies seen as daring and risky.
A study last year by researchers from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences said that 259 people across the world had died while taking selfies between 2011 and 2017.
The highest number of incidents and selfie deaths were reported in India, followed by Russia, the US and Pakistan, the study said.
CRUSHED BY ELEPHANT
In 2017, three students were killed on a railway track in southern Karnataka state, while a man died in Odisha after an elephant wrapped its trunk around the man and crushed him to death as he tried to take a selfie with the animal.
Last year, Indian Minister of Railways Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to warn people against risking their life for the sake of photographs.
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