Man took picture of himself as paramedics treated injured woman behind him.
ADVERTISEMENTA young man appears to make a V-for-victory sign as he poses for a picture at Piacenza train station near Milan, in northern Italy. Behind him, a critically injured woman is receiving medical treatment from the paramedics.
The extraordinary scene was captured by journalist Giorgio Lambri and, after some soul searching, published in a local paper a few days later.
"I published this photo because it depicts the decline of morals," he told Euronews.
The media in Italy were appalled by the incident.
The Liberta di Piacenza newspaper described it as “an act of barbarism.”
Gianluca Nicoletti of La Stampa daily, writes that people will remember it as "the ubiquitous proof of modern madness that is present in every human event, running like a movie behind the man’s back".
Police later confronted the selfie-snapping man, and ordered him to delete the photo. The woman, a Canadian citizen, was rushed to a hospital where one of her legs was amputated.
The photo has also stirred outrage on social media.
One of the users wrote that the man forgot his moral compass. Others have simply described the scene as "disgusting".
Lambri regrets he didn’t confront the man about his actions.
"I should have told him that he had crossed boundaries."