A teenager in Hyderabad died from an electric shock while attempting to take a selfie on top of a train in the Moula Ali suburb of Hyderabad on Thursday morning.
According to The Times of India K Sai Kumar, a class 7 student, and his friends learnt that a movie shooting was to take place at the Moula Ali railway station on 24 March and went there to watch it. Upon discovering that no such shoot was taking place, Kumar and his friends started playing around the trains.
Kumar got on top of a stationary coach to take a selfie, and in doing so, came in contact with a high-tension electric wire that gave him a massive electric shock.
According to the Nacharam Police, as noted by The Times of India, Kumar was taken to the nearby Osmania General Hospital by a passerby, where he was treated for burns to 72% of his body. He succumbed to his injuries shortly after arriving. The police came to know about the incident following the information provided by the OGH authorities.
According to the Washington Post, India accounted for about half of the 27 selfie-related deaths globally in 2015.
A Mumbai police spokesman, Dhananjay Kulkarni, told the BBC that police would be asking city officials to take steps to reduce the risk of selfies at popular tourist spots, in addition to deploying life guards and posting warning signs.
A teenager in Hyderabad, who was taking a selfie on Tuesday, while standing on top of a railway coach at Moula Ali, suffered from an electric shock and succumbed to his burns later in the day.
According to the police, the deceased was identified as 13-year-old K Sai Kumar who studied in class 7.
The Times of India reported that Kumar and his friends visited Moula Ali railway station after rumours that a movie shooting was taking place there. However, when they realised the shooting wasn’t happening, he and his friends started taking selfies, and jumped on top of a stationary coach.
The TOI report adds that Kumar came in contact with a high tension wire, and suffered 72% burns before he was rushed to the hospital.
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