You’ve probably seen influencers and other travelers leaning halfway out of speeding trains, arms outstretched, cameras rolling.
It looks daring, maybe even fun, as you scroll through social feeds.
But it is not.
Photo by Genine Alyssa Pedreno-Andrada
Every year, tourists injured taking photos on trains end up in hospitals or worse.
This thrill-seeking trend is dangerous and carries real consequences.
It is exactly what FAFO was made for, find out fast or pay the price.
The softer version is Fool Around and Find Out.
Online, FAFO usually stands for F* Around and Find Out.
It is a blunt way of saying that reckless behavior and risky decisions eventually come with consequences.
It is the kind of warning people use after something goes wrong.
A modern way of saying, play with fire and you will get burned.
Contents
Tourist falls from moving train
Train selfie accidents are becoming more common as tourists and influencers chase the next viral shot.
If you search tourist falls from moving train, you will find real, documented incidents.
The Pattipola Railway Tunnel, the highest tunnel on Sri Lanka’s upcountry railway line.
In Sri Lanka, a 35-year-old Chinese female tourist was critically injured on February 19, 2025, after leaning out of a moving train to pose for a viral photo.
She hit her head on a tunnel wall and suffered severe injuries.
Another case ended in death. A 53-year-old Russian tourist, Olga Perminova, tried to take a selfie while leaning out of a moving train.
Her head struck rocks beside the tracks, and she sustained fatal injuries.
Train selfie accidents are not glamorous.
They can be sudden, final, and fatal.
Influencers setting the trend
Most of the time, it is not curiosity.
It is imitation.
Influencers hanging out of trains normalize risky behavior online.
Rail staff and locals already know how dangerous this can be, but viewers only see a smiling face, rolling hills, and a perfect frame.
What they do not see are the close calls, the warnings, or the people who never made it home.
This is how viral travel stunts gone wrong begin.
One clip inspires another.
Each time, someone pushes it a little further.
Sri Lanka’s Scenic Train
Sri Lanka’s top tourist highlight is the famous blue train route from Kandy to Ella. Image: globalrailwayreview
Sri Lanka’s top tourist highlight is the famous blue train route from Kandy to Ella.
Even official tourism photos sometimes encourage risky behavior.
Many images promoting the Kandy-to-Ella train ride show tourists leaning halfway out of windows to snap the perfect shot.
Photographers can plan safe moments, but travelers often try to copy the pose without understanding the risk.
The route’s reputation as one of the world’s great train journeys draws travelers from everywhere.
The views are stunning without putting yourself in danger.
In Malaysia, the KTM Electric Train Service (ETS) offers a very different experience.
The trains are fully air-conditioned, enclosed, and modern, so you cannot open the windows or stand outside.
Passengers ride in comfortable cabins with large windows for scenic views and amenities like power sockets, though connectivity can be spotty.
You can enjoy the passing landscapes from your seat or the designated dining car, but everyone must remain inside for safety.
Both routes offer stunning scenery, but the Sri Lanka trains allow more adventurous photo opportunities, while Malaysia’s ETS focuses on comfort and safety.
Tourist injured taking train selfie
Trains are not playgrounds.
They pass through tunnels, poles, rock walls, and narrow clearances at speed.
A few centimeters of misjudgment is all it takes.
On August 5, 2024, TikTok creator Fadi Rose, 19, was injured after leaning out of a moving train on the Narathiwat to Nakhon Si Thammarat route in Thailand.
While recording a social media video, she struck her head on a trackside metal post.
CCTV footage shows her visibly dazed before she fell unconscious onto the tracks.
She suffered minor injuries and was later allowed to return home after medical checks.
Officials called her actions reckless and warned they could easily have led to serious injury or death.
View this post on Instagram
Passengers were urged to stay inside trains and keep all limbs within the carriage.
Another fatal reminder
In Thailand, 45-year-old Irish tourist Patrick Ward fell from a moving train on December 28, 2022.
The incident occurred in Kanchanaburi province near the River Kwai.
Police said he may have been walking between carriages to take photos as the train passed a scenic area at low speed.
Emergency responders were unable to revive him, and he died at the scene.
Safety Warning
Authorities warned that moving between train carriages or leaning out to view scenery is extremely dangerous and can be fatal, even at low speeds. Passengers are urged to remain inside carriages at all times while trains are in motion.
Dangerous social media travel risks
Social media rewards spectacle, not survival.
Dangerous travel trends social media pushes to the top are often the ones that look bold, effortless, and beautiful.
What does not trend is the aftermath.
Train drivers carry trauma from accidents they cannot prevent.
Fellow passengers witness scenes they never expected to see.
Emergency responders are pulled into situations that never needed to happen.
All of it for content that disappears from feeds in a day.
That is why the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka issued a public advisory warning travelers not to lean out of moving trains, stating that this behavior had already caused multiple injuries and deaths.
A simple way to not become a headline
Love travel? Act like it.
Stay inside the carriage. Follow local rules.
Take photos from windows, platforms, or stops where trains slow down.
You can capture the moment without becoming the next search result for tourist falls from moving train.
FAFO is not fun.
Around moving trains, reckless decisions are how people stop being travelers and start becoming cautionary headlines.
Cover image: Photo by Genine Alyssa Pedreno-Andrada
