The passenger train ran over the boy shortly after he stepped onto railway tracks to snap the picture in the southern city of Chennai, while walking home with friends on Sunday evening.

"It was a freak accident. More youngsters are now addicted to taking selfies," railway police officer S. Ramuthai from the Chennai suburb of Tambaram told AFP.

The boy, reportedly aged 16, who had spent the day at the zoo, had walked in front of the train, waiting for it to get closer to take the photo, according to local media reports.

The accident comes just weeks after police in the western city of Mumbai moved to crack down on dangerous selfies after a man drowned trying to save a girl who fell into the sea snapping one.

Police identified 16 dangerous selfie spots in Mumbai and have asked the local council to erect warning signs and deploy lifeguards.

In May last year, a Russian woman accidentally shot herself in the head with a pistol while posing for a selfie with the weapon.

And US investigators last February said a pilot's repeated snapping of selfie photos caused a small plane to crash, killing both people on board.


- News24.com