Heartlessness, thy name is selfie

Kolkata, April 1 (IANS) Even as hundreds in Kolkata did their best to rescue victims after a flyover collapsed here, some youngsters displayed insensitivity by clicking away selfies with the injured.

Some teenagers as well as young men were perched on a broken pillar of the Vivekananda Road flyover, taking pictures with their mobiles.

A few youngsters forced themselves into a waiting ambulance and started clicking selfies in the Posta area where the Vivekananda Road flyover came crashing on Thursday killing 24 people and injured dozens.

They appeared to be oblivious to the pain and suffering of a seriously injured person who was pulled out of the rubble by policemen to be ferried to a hospital. None of the young men cared to lend a helping hand.

Police had to literally drag them out of the ambulance.

Several ambulances were held up as large groups of youngsters almost laid siege to the vehicles in a desperate bid to click snaps of the injured.

They positioned themselves in a way so that they could take selfies with the wounded - many dazed and in pain and some dying.

The large crowd of onlookers choked the crucial Rabindra Sarani where a taxi and a Tata Sumo vehicle crushed under the flyover were kept.

The narrow passage made it difficult for rescuers and ambulances to move.

Some selfie-seekers positioned themselves on a crane brought to the site to clear the rubble.

A few were seen virtually competing with each other in clicking gory videos of the destruction.

"Ami peye gechi, ami peye gechi (I have got it, I have got it)," shouted a teenager, proudly showing his video to his friends.

A common thread in their operations was to ensure their faces were seen in the videos.

Quickly would they post "their successes" on Facebook, Twitter and Whatsapp to send out a message to friends that they were at the spot where the flyover crumbled killing 24 people and leaving many badly injured.