Three children, including a brother and sister, who were killed after being hit by a freight train on the Trans-Siberian railway had been taking ‘selfies’, say Russian media.  

The brother (aged 13), sister, (10), and another boy (13) were all killed. Another girl (13) survived but is seriously ill in hospital. The children had not been able to estimate the safe distance to the approaching train, and one person blamed parents for not warning their children against taking ‘deranged selfies’, according to The Siberian Times.

‘Lack of adult supervision’

The incident happened on June 10 between Amur Bay and Nadezhdinskaya, near the port city of Vladivostok. The Far Eastern Railway company, which was operating the locomotive which struck the children, said in a statement that the driver had applied his emergency brakes but had not been able to stop in time. It said the children had been walking on an ‘undesignated’ area of track, and that there had been a lack of adult supervision.

Since the start of the year there have been 20 deaths from people walking on Russian railways. The company expressed its ‘grave concern’ regarding the non-industrial injuries on railway infrastructure facilities, and urged people to comply with strict rules regarding trespassing on railway property.