A teenager has been killed after reportedly trying to “train surf” over an iconic bridge in Paris.
Investigators said the 16-year-old attempted the stunt on the roof of a train as it crossed the Bir-Hakeim Bridge, near the Eiffel Tower, earlier this week.
Witnesses said he was hit by the roof the Metro station as pulled out. The boy, whose body could be seen lying by the tracks, was pronounced dead at the scene.
"When the train started to leave the platform, he sat and turned his back on a low bridge that was approaching," a British tourist who witnessed the accident told L'Express newspaper:
“He smiled at everyone on the platform. We then heard people screaming and he hit the bridge and was thrown from the train. There was a terrible thud as he hit the metal surface. It was terrifying. "
The teen, whose identity has not yet been made public, was described by another witness as being “instantly disfigured” and “horribly mutilated”.
One onlooker was reportedly taken to hospital after being psychological distressed by the incident.
CCTV footage showed the thrill seeker arriving at the Metro station with two friends, who are still being sought by police, La Parisien newspaper reports.
The bridge, which has featured in movies including Inception and Last Tango in Paris, connects the city’s 15th and 16th arrondissements.
The incident comes 10 months after a British man was killed in Paris in what police said was an attempt to train surf.
Nye Frankie Newman, 17, was found between two carriages on the Paris Metro on New Year’s Eve last year.
