A Japanese businessman was seriously injured after being hit by a train while taking a selfie on the famed River Kwai Bridge in western Thailand, Thai media reported.
The accident at the well-known tourist spot in Kanchanaburi province took place in full view of hundreds of tourists enjoying a public holiday Saturday morning.
The man, identified as Haruhisa Saito, 52, sustained broken ribs and head injuries from the accident, police Lt. Wichai Srimuangthanachai was quoted as saying by local media. The train had been traveling from Bangkok to Nam Tok station in Kanchanaburi.
Police rushed to the scene at around 11:25 a.m. Saturday to find the train halted on the bridge and dispatched Saito to a hospital.
According to the police, Saito is president of Thai Silvec Co., a branch of Japan's Silvec Co., and was visiting Kanchanaburi with his employees.
Just before the accident, he was walking along the bridge and stopped to take photos, apparently unaware of the approaching train.
The train hit Saito as he was taking a picture of himself, throwing him about 5 meters from the bridge to the ground as hundreds of Thai and foreign tourists congregated nearby.
A police investigation is underway.
The River Kwai Bridge was originally constructed by laborers and prisoners of war forced to build a railway between Bangkok and Yangon by the Japanese military during World War II. The bridge gained notoriety after it was featured in the novel and movie "The Bridge on the River Kwai," which gives a fictionalized account of its construction.