Kanpur, Nov 12 (IANS): Two youths were run over by a train while they were sitting on the railway tracks and watching the Cricket World Cup match between Afghanistan and South Africa on their mobile phones in the Sachendi area of Uttar Pardesh's Kanpur.

The incident happened on Friday evening.

Police said that the youths, Ashish Kumar,18, and Subhash Kumar, 20, were wearing earphones and could not hear the honking of the approaching train.

Assistant commissioner of police (ACP) Tej Bahadur Singh said, “Preliminary investigation revealed that Ashish and Subhash were watching the match while sitting on the railway track when the incident took place. This was also corroborated by eyewitnesses.”

Ashish was working in a private firm and both of them were preparing for Army recruitment examinations.

Ashish’s father Binda Prasad works in a private firm in Haryana. Subhash was the son of Ashish’s maternal uncle Rajesh, who is a farmer.

A police officer said that the fields of Binda and Rajesh were located near the railway line.

“On Friday evening, Ashish and Subhash went to the fields. On their way back, both of them sat on the Kanpur-Jhansi railway line, about 500 metres away from home, and started watching the match,” he said.

“Eyewitnesses said both the cousins were run over by a medical relief train,” he added.