Dying for the perfect shot: teen girl killed by train while posing for selfie in southern China
PUBLISHED : Monday, 11 April, 2016, 5:30pm
UPDATED : Monday, 11 April, 2016, 6:47pm
Phoenix Kwong
A 19-year-old girl was hit by a train in south China’s Guangdong province while trying to take a selfie near the tracks in the latest incident showing how dangerous the quest for eye-catching self-portraits can be, mainland media reported.
The girl was among about a half dozen people taking photos of roses blooming at a railway crossing in Liantang village in Foshan city’s Nanhai district, on Saturday. She was posing near the tracks with the flowers in the background and waited until the train approached because she wanted to include it in the photo, news website Sina.com reported.
A local farmer who witnessed the incident said the train blew its whistle as it neared and others standing at the crossing told her she was too close to the tracks, but she did not respond, the report said.
She was hit by the train and thrown from the tracks. When paramedics arrived at 1.34pm, she was already dead. Photos of the girl before and after the accident circulated online.
A staff member at Xiaotang Hospital in Nanhai was quoted as saying similar accidents had happened several times at the same location.
In Hong Kong last month, a hiker in his 30s fell to his death from the the 495-metre-high Lion Rock. Witnesses said he was trying to take a photograph standing on a cliff.
