‘Life is invaluable’, Indian Railways issues advisory on TikTok stunts after user’s near-death experience

Taking cognisance of a boy’s TikTok stunt that resulted in a near-death experience, Indian Railways has issued an advisory against stunts involving moving trains

• The video in question was tweeted by the official handle of Indian Railways.
• In the video, the boy can be seen escaping the clutches of death by mere nanoseconds.
• Stunts shot for TikTok have resulted in fatal accidents over the past year.

New Delhi: With more than 120 million users in India, TikTok has taken social media by storm. A report by data analytics firm App Annie revealed that Indian users spent over 5.5 billion hours on the app in 2019. With several elected representatives and influential figures using the application to raise awareness about sensitive issues, TikTok has made a place for itself among social media users in the world’s second-most populous country.

However, the use of the application has also resulted in a number of fatal accidents over the course of the past few years. One such incident came to light on Tuesday where a boy’s attempt to shoot a TikTok video went horribly wrong. In the video, the boy can be seen trying to disembark a moving train. He loses balance and is almost crushed under the locomotive before he manages to move away from the railway tracks.

Indian Railways took to micro-blogging website Twitter to issue an advisory against boarding or deboarding a moving train. Pointing out to the man in the video, the Railways said that he was lucky enough to survive the fall this time but cannot claim to be lucky for a second time around. “Please do not do these stunts and do not allow others to attempt them. Life is invaluable and one should not endanger it for a stunt,” said the post from the Railways’ official Twitter handle.