KOCHI: A teenager and a youth from two different parts of the state fell victim to social media addiction on Wednesday.
Fifteen-year-old Edwin, of Chiyyaram, near Thrissur, died while posing for a selfie in front of a speeding train, while 32-year-old Abhilash, a native Eruva, near Kayamkulam, was killed while he was enacting hanging for making a video to post on Facebook. Edwin, son of Pulikkottil Vincent, was instantly killed by a speeding train while posing on the track. He was accompanied by his brother Godwin and a few friends, who lost consciousness after witnessing the horrific incident.
Edwin had passed the Class X examination from Cherppu Lourdes Matha School and was awaiting admission for higher secondary education. He apparently wanted to take a selfie with an approaching train in the background to post on a social networking forum. The boy was rushed to a hospital at Koorkencherry where he was pronounced dead. Meanwhile, Abhilash, son of Sasi, apparently ended up hanging himself, allegedly while trying to make a video of himself enacting the hanging to post on Facebook. Shockingly, this was the second time he was trying to make a video of this sort.