The widespread habit of listening to music while walking cost two teenagers their lives here on Thursday. The cousins, who were walking on a railway track, could not hear the train coming from behind them as they were glued to their headphones, police said.
Kuldeep Chauhan, 15, and his cousin Rahul Singh, 17, were students of Dehra Dun Public School (DDPS) in Madhuban area. They had bunked classes Thursday and wanted to watch a movie.
Police said that after leaving their homes, the two were walking on the track on their way to a multiplex, when the Delhi-bound Jan Shatabdi Express hurtled towards them from behind.
Not only could they not hear the train's whistles, they were also oblivious to shouts of the people nearby.
Both of them were killed on the spot.
Kuldeep was the son of a security agency owner Bhopal Singh, while Rahul's father Om Pal Singh too runs a security firm here.
The police blamed the parents for negligence.
"The parents allow children to carry mobile phones to school. Such freedom has cost them their lives," Circle Officer Praveen Ranjan said.
The duo's school principal Richa Sood said: "The two students were bunking classes since the last three days. Their mobile numbers furnished to the school were found to be non-functional."