Selfie craze atop train lands youth in hospital

Trying to click self-portraits, or “selfies”, atop a goods train engine turned out to be a shocking experience for an engineering student at the Rajahmundry railway station in the East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday. 

Santosh a 22-year-old second-year BTech student of GITAM Institute of Technology in Visakhapatnam, had come to Rajahmundry with his classmates to attend a wedding.

On their way back home, they were biding time at the railway station when they spotted a goods train. 

Ignoring caution

Santosh wanted to take a selfie on the train's engine. Ignoring the words of caution from his friends and protests by the railway staff, Santosh climbed atop the engine and took several selfies.

While he was doing this, his hand touched the high-tension wire above the electric-run locomotive, and burst into flames as current flowed through. 

The engine drivers shut down the power line. The drivers tried to save Santosh by dousing the fire. 

Santosh was taken to a nearby railway hospital in a badly burnt state, and later to the Bollineni Super-speciality Hospital in Rajahmundry. 

“He is burnt really bad. We are trying our best to revive him,” said a doctor at the hospital.

The doctor adding that Santosh has suffered more than 80 per cent burns and was battling for his life.