A 25-year-old student who tried to take a selfie video at the Borabanda Railway Station in Hyderabad on Sunday was seriously injured after getting hit by an approaching train.
In a video the Government Railway Police released on Wednesday, the man identified as R Shiva Kumar can be seen looking into his phone and pointing at the approaching train. Kumar can be seen ignoring the locomotive’s repeated honking and continuing to take the video. The train then hits him hard from behind as it passes by.
“He did not realise the danger he was in and ignored the furious honking by the loco pilot who tried to warn him off,” Telangana State Railway Police Sub-Inspector Dasya Naik told The Indian Express. “The train hit him, and he was thrown away from the track. He received serious injuries on his right hand, head and chest, but is out of danger now.”
Bharatnagar Railway Protection Inspector Sudhakar Rao said the police had booked Kumar and fined him Rs 500, The Hindu reported. “Despite the severity of the impact in the video, he escaped largely unhurt as the locomotive’s pilot applied the emergency brakes and slowed the train.”
After the accident, Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal appealed to citizens to avoid taking selfies near railway tracks. “It is very disheartening to know about these accidents,” he said in a press release. “You all are the future of the country and my appeal is to avoid putting your life at risk and stay alert around the railway tracks.”
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