A man was fatally hit by an Amtrak passenger train as he was posing for selfies with another woman on railway tracks passing near Kalama River in Washington.
The man, from Oregan was reportedly on a Tacoma-to-Portland road trip with a woman, when they halted near the Kalama River to take a break, smoke and click some photos, reports The Oregonian. They were posing at the railway tracks three miles south of Kalama on Saturday around 10.28 am, when the Amtrak train hit him.
Charlie Rosenzweig, Cowlitz County Sheriff's chief criminal deputy said that the man had "walked out between the northbound and southbound set of train tracks to pose for pictures as the train passed by him," when the northbound Burlington Northern-Santa Fe (BNSF) train fatally struck him.
BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas said the man was trespassing and that they would investigate the incident further with local officials.
In pursuit of taking the "perfect selfie", many people are often not conscious of the impending danger.
In 2014, Canadian Jared Michael became famous after he posted a video of him getting kicked by someone in a train in Peru, while trying to take a selfie. His 11-second video went viral in a matter of hours, and made him famous.
But his statement in the video says: "I tried to take a selfie while a train passed a "safe" distance behind. I guess I was still too close...," proving why it is important not to lose your wits while trying to take selfies.
