Bhubaneswar, Sept. 26: Selfie craze proved costly for a 19-year-old engineering student, who is battling for his life in a hospital here.

Subhendu Naik, a second-year plastic engineering student, suffered 60 per cent burn injuries while trying to take a selfie atop a goods train near the goods shed at Mancheswar this afternoon. Naik came in contact with the high-tension overhead wires above the train, which was stationed near the Mancheswar railway halt.

Naik had gone to the area with two of his friends, apparently for a photo shoot. While he mounted the roof of the standing train to take the selfie, his friends waited below.

"While taking photographs with his friends he came in contact with the live wires. We rushed him to Capital Hospital from where he was referred to SCB Medical College in Cuttack. Later, we admitted him in a Bhubaneswar-based private hospital," the father of the victim, a BSNL employee, told The Telegraph.

Doctors attending to Naik said the victim was in a critical condition. "He has suffered 60 per cent burn injuries, mainly in his abdomen and the right thigh," said the doctor at the private hospital.

Government Railway Police inspector-in-charge Soubhagya Kumar Swain said they were yet to get a formal complaint about the incident. "We have received the information and are trying to ascertain the circumstances, which led to the unfortunate incident," said Swain.

In February last year, a 27-year-old person died after he was hit by a running train near the Bomikhal railway level-crossing. The train had hit Rashmiranjan Barik, a cab driver, as he was on his mobile phone while crossing the railway tracks.

A senior police official said there was a need to create awareness among people, especially the youth, against the selfie craze. "It is turning into a frenzied movement with people often taking risks as they are too excited about posting these pictures on various social networking websites. They don't realise that this can cost them dear if they are not careful," said the officer.

Senior citizen Aparti Mallick agreed. "It is a dangerous trend that is fast catching up. Youths often behave recklessly and pay the price. It is time we senior citizens took the initiative and made the younger generation aware of the risks involved," he said.