MANGALORE : Snapping a selfie on a scenic stretch of a railway track in Nehru Nagar, Puttur, turned fatal for Varsha Alva , 19, a second-year BE student, when the Subrahmanya-Puttur-Mangalore passenger knocked her down. Varsha was killed on the spot, while Rachana lost her arm.

Varsha and her friends, students of Vivekananda College of Engineering and Technology, Puttur, 50 km from Mangalore, were returning to their hostel across the railway track around 2.30pm Sunday. Varsha is a resident of Derebail in Mangalore, while Rachana is from Vittla. It's still not clear what happened: some reports say the girls were absorbed in taking photographs and failed to see the train approaching. Others say that the girls spotted the train a little late and tried to rush off the tracks, when they were hit from the rear. The impact was so severe that part of Varsha's skull was ripped off, police said.

Varsha succumbed to her injuries before she could be taken to hospital. Rachana was rushed to a private hospital, and her condition is improving.

Varsha, Rachana and four other students had gone to a popular eatery in Puttur and were walking back. They had to cross the railway track to reach the hostel, said Tharanath K, police inspector, Railway Police. He said the spot lies along a curved stretch of track, and the adjoining hillocks sometimes make it difficult to spot an oncoming train.

Incidentally, photos of the group of students taken minutes before the fatal accident at the eatery, and circulated widely on WhatsApp, showed them in a cheerful mood. The postmortem was conducted at Government Wenlock Hospital.

