Quest for ‘ultimate selfie’ on train top kills Romanian teenager

A Romanian teenager has died after touching a live wire on top of a train while attempting to take the “ultimate selfie.

Anna Ursu, 18, and one of her friends went to a train station in Lasi in northeast Romania to take a 'special selfie' she intended to post on Facebook, London-based Daily Mail reported.

She burst into flames after her leg touched an electric wire, sending 27,000 volts through her body, a witness said. 

Her 17-year-old friend was reportedly blown off the train by the force of the current.

They were rushed to a hospital but Ursu, who suffered 50 percent burns, died.

Anisia Iliescu, a spokesperson for Bucharest Burns Hospital where the teenager was later transferred, told reporters: “Her whole body was burned.”

A passer-by, who warned the girls to avoid the electric cables overhead, said he had heard the loud bang as Ursu caught fire, the Independent reported.

The 17-year-old girl, currently recovering in hospital, told investigators that they wanted to get the 'ultimate selfie' and had not thought of the danger.

A hospital spokesman said although the girl had not directly touched the wire, she came into contact with its electrical field, which was just as deadly.

‘Selfie’ – a self-portrait usually on a smartphone or webcam – became popular particularly among the young in recent times.

Oxford Dictionaries named ‘selfie’ as the word of the year in 2013.

In January, three Indian college students were killed by a train after they attempted to take selfies in front of the moving train.

Last year, a Polish couple died in Portugal after falling down a cliff while taking a selfie. 

A Russian teenager also died when she climbed a railway bridge for a selfie.