Thiruvananthapuram: Attempts to click eye-catching pictures to upload them on social networking sites ended in tragedy with a 16-year-old boy being run over by a train and another dying while videographing his own mock hanging.
One of them, Edwin, wanted his friends to take photos of him standing on the rail track at Chiyyaram near Thrissur yesterday. He wanted these pictures to be posted on a social networking site, his friends told police.
But the boy was fatally knocked down by a speeding train from behind before he could jump off the track.
Apart from his friends, those who were witness to the tragedy included Edwin's brother, police said.
The seriously injured Edwin was rushed to a hospital, but he succumbed to his injuries.
In another incident, a 32-year-old man died while trying to photograph himself in a mock act of hanging on Tuesday.
The deceased, Abhilash from Eruva near Kayamkulam, was taking a selfie of the macabre act on his mobile phone at his home where no one was present at the fatal moment.
Police said it was suspected that Abhilash's intention was to picture a mock act of hanging, but the noose around his neck got tightened before he could extricate himself.
In both cases, the mobile phones had been seized and investigations were on, police said.
