Amina Bulakh Ukrainian boxing champion killed by oncoming train while crossing over railroad while wearing headphones and checking smartphone.
An 18-year-old Ukrainian boxing champion has died after being struck by a train as she crossed over a railroad line while ‘wearing headphones and browsing her smartphone,’ according to reports.
Amina Bulakh — a member of Ukraine’s youth female boxing team and the bronze medalist at a September European championship in Bulgaria — was walking home from a pharmacy in the village of Tarasivka outside Kyiv on Nov. 14 when she was killed, The UK’s Sun reports.
The teen girl ‘strolled’ over the tracks at a designated crossing — only for her headphones to make her oblivious to the sound of an oncoming train until it was too late.
Despite the teen trying to make her way out of the path of the passenger train — which connected Kyiv to the nearby city of Fastiv — investigators said it was too little too late.
‘A little, slim girl of 10 years came in and she says she wants to be a boxer,‘
The teen’s coach, Victor Fesechko, told Ukrainian outlet Obozrevatel that he didn’t understand when Bulakh’s mother first tried to tell him what happened.
‘I said, ‘Anya, everything will be fine,’ he told the outlet. ‘And then like a blow to the head: ‘Amin is gone.”
Fesechko recalled meeting Bulakh eight years ago — and turning her down twice before agreeing to train her the third time.
‘A little, slim girl of 10 years came in and she says she wants to be a boxer,‘ he said. ‘I didn’t train girls at the time. It was even strange for me.’
After Fesecko took Bulakh on, a colleague organizing a tournament told him he was looking for girls to enter. He recruited Bulakh — and she started winning medals, he said.
Bulakh — who had recently spent time studying in Poland and wanted to pursue a business career — was back home to relax for a few weeks after a period of intense training.
‘Tragic circumstances have taken the life of Ukraine youth female team member Amina Bulakh,’ the Boxing Federation of Ukraine said in a statement. ‘Eternal memory to you, Amin Bulakh…’
Ukraine police have launched a criminal investigation into Bulakh’s death.
