An 18-year-old Ukrainian boxing champion was fatally struck by a train as she crossed over a railroad line “wearing headphones and browsing her smartphone,” according to new 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 Kiev on Nov. 14 when she was killed, the Sun reported.
She strolled over the tracks at a designated crossing — but her headphones made her oblivious to the sound of the oncoming train until it was too late, according to the report.
The teen tried to get out of the path of the passenger train — which connected Kiev to the nearby city of Fastiv — but it was too late.
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 he agreed the third time to train her.
“A little, slim girl of 10 years came in and she says she wants to be a boxer,” he told the outlet. “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…”