A teenager in Koppal district of Karnataka died on Wednesday after being run over by a bus. And while he was lying bleeding on the road, not for the first time, bystanders decided to whip out their phones and record videos.

It’s understandable that not all accident victims can be rushed to the hospital by bystanders, without trained paramedics on the spot. Especially when the person is badly injured, attempts by untrained bystanders to help the victim might in fact end up doing more harm than good.

What bystanders should do is to ensure that they call an ambulance, and perhaps wait for the ambulance to arrive and help the paramedics in whatever way required.

But what they really shouldn’t be doing is to take videos of a person bleeding to death. This perverse fascination with shooting a person in considerable pain, zooming in on their injuries, and sharing the video with friends and social media contacts is inexplicable.

A road crash is not about an ‘experience’ of the bystander; it’s about getting the best help possible for the injured victim, and ensuring that an ambulance can reach the spot as soon as possible.

The Koppal victim, Anwar Ali, was an 18 year old who was the sole breadwinner of his family. He was hit by a Karnataka state road transport corporation bus near the block education office in Koppal district, while he was riding his bicycle and got run over.

As Ali lay on the ground writhing in pain and screaming for help, several bystanders stood around, recording the incident on their smartphones.  

The accident occurred at around 8.40am and by the time the ambulance arrived, it was 9.10am.

The Bangalore Mirror report by Deepthi Sanjiv adds that a surgery was conducted and Ali was reportedly given seven bottles of blood. But he succumbed to his injuries and was declared dead by 2pm.