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Train crushes three selfie-crazy teenagers to death
Three teenagers were killed while taking selfies on a railway track in India , the country which researchers say has the worst record for selfie – related deaths .
A fourth youth managed to jump to safety before the accident in Panipat city in the northern state of Haryana , a police officer told AFP on Wednesday .
“ The victims were busy taking selfies and when they saw a train approaching they jumped to a second track without realising another train was coming on that , ” M . S . Dabas told AFP .
“ One of them saved his life as he jumped on the other side of the track . ”
The group had come to Panipat to attend a wedding . Two of those killed were 19 years old and the third was 18 .
Experts warn that youngsters obsessed with social media are going to extreme lengths in order to post selfies seen as daring and risky .
A study last year by researchers from the All Indian Institute of Medical Sciences said 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 United States , and Pakistan , the study said .
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 Railways Minister Piyush Goyal took to Twitter to warn people against risking their life for the sake of photographs.
( AFP )