Chennai: Crazy over posting selfies on social networking sites, a 17-year-old student was electrocuted while attempting to take a selfie atop a goods wagon stabled at East Tambaram Railway Yard, on Sunday evening.
It is the second such incident reported in the City. The deceased boy was identified as Prakash, (17), a student of a private matriculation school from Selaiyur and lived in Kamarajar Puram, Chembakkam near Tambaram. He had given his plus-1 exams this year.
Prakash pestered his father to get him a smartphone with a front camera for the summer holidays, and was experimenting with selfies in various backgrounds. He was posting the same on social networking sites.
Prakash who wanted a selfie atop an EMU coach learnt that he wouldn’t be allowed to scale it at Tambaram Railway Station. Therefore, he chose East Tambaram railway yard where he could evade RPF’s vigil. He sneaked into the yard around 4 pm.
He climbed atop a goods wagon stationed in the yard, and took a string of selfies with the wagon in his background. In his attempt to bring the entire wagon in the frame, Prakash raised the phone above and came in contact with the High-Tension (HT) over-head-cable, which was powering the Electric-Multiple-Units (EMUs).
Prakash suffered electrocution and was thrown off to the ground with burns. He was rescued by the Yard staff that rushed him to the Kilpauk Medical College Hospital (KMCH). The boy succumbed to burns at KMCH not responding to the treatment.
This is the second selfie related death in the train track recorded in the city since January 31, 2016. Dena Sukumar, a plus-2 student of Poonamallee Aringnar Anna government higher secondary school, was run over by an EMU while taking selfies with his friends. Two years ago, a plus-2 student was electrocuted in the same railway yard while trying to free a kite that was entangled in the over-head cable.
