A man was fatally hit by an Amtrak train while taking a selfie
The man was on a trip from Tacoma to Portland when he stopped beside a river three miles south of Kalama, Oregon to smoke and snap photos with an unnamed woman.
CBS Seattle reports:
The northbound Burlington Northern-Santa Fe train approached the two about 10:28 a.m. Saturday, the man "walked out between the northbound and southbound set of train tracks to pose for pictures as the train passed by him," said Charlie Rosenzweig, a Cowlitz County Sheriff's deputy.
What the pair didn't realize while they were on the tracks snapping photos, was that a southbound Amtrak train was rapidly approaching. The train struck the man as the two posed for a photo and he died at the scene. The woman escaped unharmed.
Venturing onto the tracks is illegal and if caught you can be charged with trespassing. Despite this, between 2013 and 2014, over 30 people in Washington state ventured onto the tracks and were killed by trains.