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List of selfie related injuries and deaths

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List of selfie-related injuries and deaths

This is a list of serious injuries and deaths in which one or more subjects of a selfie were killed or injured, either before, during or after having taken a photo of themselves, with the accident at least in part attributed to the taking of the photo.

Contents

The United States Department of Transportation estimated that during 2014, the so-called "year of the selfie", 33,000 people were injured while driving and using a cell-phone in some fashion, which can include talking, listening, and "manual button/control actuation" including taking, uploading, downloading, editing, or opening of selfies. A 2015 survey by Erie Insurance Group found that 4% of all drivers admitted to taking selfies while driving.

The Washington Post reported in January 2016 that "about half" of at least 27 "selfie related [sic]" deaths in 2015 had occurred in India. No official data on the number of people who died taking selfies in India exists, but reports show from 2014 up to August 2016, there have been at least 54 deaths in India while taking selfies. The Indian Tourism Ministry asked states to identify and barricade ‘selfie danger’ areas, its first national attempt to deal with the selfie deaths. Mumbai police identified at least 16 danger zones after a man drowned attempting to save a selfie-taker. No-selfie zones were also established in certain areas of the Kumbh Mela because organizers feared bottlenecks caused by selfie-takers could spark stampedes.

January

  • A 19-year-old student fell to her death from the top of a 20-story apartment building in Manila, Philippines, while taking a selfie. According to her classmate, "she was not satisfied with the photos they had taken so she decided to climb up the parapet wall".
  • A 20-year-old fell to his death while taking a selfie from the top of the Reasi Fort at Jammu and Kashmir, India.
  • A 20-year-old college girl drowned at Bandstand Promenade in Bandra, Mumbai. She is believed to have been swept away in the high tide. According to the girl's friends, they were taking selfies, standing on the rock, close to the Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL). "The girls were standing 50 metres away from the shore when the water suddenly rose. They did not notice water rising and remained on the rock taking pictures (selfies). One of the girls was pulled into the water due to high tide."

    • February

  • A Nepalese girl drowned in the Narayani River. She dived into the river to save her friend who slipped into the water while the two were taking selfies together near the bank. The girl who originally fell was rescued but her friend who tried to save her died.
  • A 16-year-old boy was killed by a passenger train while taking a selfie with an approaching train in Chennai, India. "The teen reportedly walked in front of the train and waited for it to come closer before taking the photo."
  • A college student drowned after falling off of the Waldevi Dam in Nashik, India, while taking a selfie.
  • Three students of Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences drowned after falling in an irrigation canal in Hulivana village, 180 km from Bengaluru, India, reportedly while they were taking selfies.
  • February 18 – An Argentinian crowd seeking selfies was held responsible for the death of a La Plata dolphin. It has however been claimed that the dolphin was already dead.
  • February 22 – Five people in Anjuna, Goa, fell off a cliff and were injured after a gate they were leaning on gave way during a group selfie.

    • March

  • On March 2, a 43-year-old man in Concrete, Washington, accidentally shot himself in the face with a gun and died while taking a selfie. He thought the gun was unloaded.
  • On March 5, 22-year-old from Melbourne, Australia, was shot in the face with a sawn-off shotgun while posing for a selfie with the gun. The gun was fired by a friend who was holding it. The shooter fled the scene and was charged with murder.
  • On March 12, a 30-year-old man fell off Lion Rock in Hong Kong while taking a selfie and died.

    • April

  • On April 5, 2016, a 16-year-old climbed a rock fountain at a zoo in Hyderabad, India, apparently to take a selfie. He slipped, fell into the water and may have hit his head on a rock. He was taken to hospital where his death was recorded.
  • On April 15, 2016, two youths were run over by a train while taking selfies on the railway tracks at Purushottampur railway crossing in Chunar area in Mirzapur district in Uttar Pradesh, India.
  • A 16-year-old boy died while taking a selfie at a railway crossing in Saharanpur, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India.
  • On 26 April, while taking a selfie, a 25-year-old youth fell off the Dolphin Nose cliff near Vattakanal village, situated eight km from the Kodaikanal Lake, Tamil Nadu, India.

    • May

  • A 15-year-old boy from Pathankot, India, died on 1 May 2016 after he accidentally shot himself with his father's revolver while taking a selfie with the gun pointed at his head.
  • A Chinese businessman, at a local wildlife park in the city of Rongcheng, Shangdong province, was drowned by a walrus after taking several selfies and videos with the animal. A zookeeper was also drowned in the same incident after attempting to save the man.

    • June

  • An 18-year-old boy drowned in the Ganges river while taking a selfie after bathing with his mother and a friend in Nabadwip of West Bengal state in India on 3 June 2016.
  • On June 3, a 15-year-old from Overland, Missouri, accidentally shot and killed himself while attempting to take a selfie at home posing with his father's gun.
  • On 12 June, a 23-year-old fell into the water and drowned at Sindhrot check dam near Vadodara, India, while taking a selfie. His friend jumped into the water to save him, he also drowned.
  • On June 18, a 37-year-old EMS lieutenant of the New York City Fire Department, was mountain climbing near Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains. She was on a ledge at the top of Roaring Brook Falls preparing to take a selfie when she disappeared from sight. Rescue services found her body in the water at the base of the falls.
  • On 22 June, seven people were swept away and drowned to death while taking a selfie in the river Ganges in Kanpur, Uttarpradesh, India. They were a 21-year-old, two 20-year-olds, a 19-year-old, a 31-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 24-year-old. According to a police official, they had gone for a picnic at Kanpur Ganga Barrage when one of the party tried to take a selfie by standing on the edge of the barrage and tripped and fell into the Ganges. The river was already in spate due to rains in the region. The six others, in an attempt to save him, jumped into the river but were themselves swept away by the current.
  • A third year engineering student of a Lonavla-based college and hailing from Nashik, lost his balance while taking a selfie from the Amrutanjan bridge and fell down next to the Pune-Mumbai Expressway in Maharashtra, India. He died on the spot.
  • On June 29, a 28-year-old South Korean tourist plunged 1,600 feet (490 m) off a cliff at Gocta waterfall in the Amazonas Region of Peru. He was attempting to take a picture of himself. Divers and mountain rescue teams were brought in to recover the body submerged more than 20 feet underwater at the base of the falls.
  • On June 29, a 51-year-old German tourist visiting Machu Picchu in Peru, fell 130 feet (40 m) to his death after he lost his footing while leaping into the air for a "flying selfie".
  • A 20-year-old Canadian tourist plunged off a 75 meters (246 ft) viewpoint in the Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia, while trying to take a selfie. His fall was broken by tree branches and he survived with injuries. It was the park's second selfie accident in a year.

    • July

  • Mussoorie, July 2, Priyank Gupta (32), a resident of Mali Mohalla, near Saharanpur Chowk, Dehradun (India), lost his life after he fell in a 150-feet deep gorge while taking a selfie near Chunakhaal on Dehradun-Mussoorie road in Uttarakhand, India. This is not the first incident of this kind on the road. Last year, a youth died when he stepped backwards and fell into a deep gorge while his friend was clicking a picture.
  • On July 6, four students were taking selfies near Purva waterfall on Tamas River in Rewa district of Madhya Pradesh, India. They were unaware of an oncoming flash flood and all four were swept away and drowned.
  • Two students drowned while taking selfies at Kosi Dam near Rampur, Uttar Pradesh, India. A group of students were taking selfies and became trapped in a vortex; the rest were saved.
  • On July 12, a 36-year-old and a friend climbed to a mountain peak at Khandala, India, against warnings. There they took selfies with a waterfall in the background, but the 36-year-old slipped and fell into a 200-foot-deep quarry and died.
  • On July 12 in southern Nepal, a truck driver stopped for a wild herd of 21 elephants crossing the road. The driver exited his vehicle to take a selfie with the animals. The herd attacked and killed the man.
  • On July 13 in the province of Hung Yen, Vietnam, two men aged 21 and 28 were hit and killed by a train while taking a selfie on the tracks. Bystanders tried to shout warnings at the men but they could not hear them due to wearing earphones.
  • A couple, a 42-year-old, and his wife, a 40-year-old, from Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu, were swept away by a "giant wave" in Kanyakumari, India, on 17 July 2016 while they were taking a selfie.
  • In an incident reported on July 19, two people were taking selfies at Alekan waterfall in Charmadi Ghat, India. The two, Hanumanthappa (34) and Nagabhushan (38), residents of Chitradurga district, lost balance and fell into the waterfall. They were both killed.
  • On July 23 at Amboli Falls, a popular tourist destination in Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra, India, a youth fell into a 60-foot-deep gorge while taking a selfie. He died.
  • On July 27, a 24-year-old woman was swept away to her death by the swollen waters of Baandal river near Maldevta area on the outskirts of Dehradun, India. She was taking a selfie at the time of the incident, bringing the toll of selfie deaths in Dehradun to four for the year.
  • On July 30, a national-level athlete slipped and fell into a pond while taking a selfie near a harvesting plant at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bhopal. The 20-year-old, did not know how to swim. Her two companions, who also were unable to swim, ran for help. She was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.
  • On July 31, a 24-year-old Indian man, a well-known local-level wrestler from Bhadohi, fell to his death while taking a selfie near the Vindham waterfall in Uttar Pradesh. A friend who dived into the water to rescue him was taken to the hospital in critical condition.

    • August

  • On August 2, a 22-year-old Florida woman accidentally shot her phone while taking a picture of herself for Snapchat while posing with a 40-caliber pistol. She suffered minor injuries to her hand. The phone was shattered.
  • On August 3, a 22-year-old engineering student from Andhra Pradesh was vacationing with six friends in Tamil Nadu state, South India. While taking a selfie standing on the edge of a 2,000-foot-deep gorge at Vilpatti village on upper Kodaikanal hill, he slipped and plunged to his death.
  • On August 7, a 27-year-old lawyer from India was visiting Mandoshi ghat, near Bhimashanjar. She and her husband were sitting on boulders that form a safety barrier from a 100-foot gorge below. As she positioned herself for a selfie, one of the boulders came loose in wet earth, and she slipped over the edge. Her husband attempted to arrest her fall but was unable to hold on. She sustained head injuries and was taken to hospital by her husband, where she was pronounced dead.
  • On August 9, an 11-year-old Pakistani girl drowned while attempting to take a selfie at the Kunhar River, which flows through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. The girl's mother jumped into the fast-moving river to save her but she was also swept away and drowned. On seeing both his daughter and wife in trouble the father jumped in; he also drowned. The dead bodies of the mother and her daughter were found; the father's body was missing. The six-year-old son of the family was a witness of the tragedy.
  • On August 12, a 22-year-old student of Kherva Ganpat University, Mehsana in Gujarat, India, climbed a glass dome on the third-floor terrace of a building to take a selfie. The fragile glass collapsed and she plunged 70 feet to the ground floor and was killed. Selfies were subsequently banned at the school in "risky places".
  • On August 12, four Indians aged 15–19 were taking selfies in the ocean surf in Maharashtra. Unsatisfied with the pictures and ignoring a storm, they went further out from shore. They were carried away by a large wave and their bodies not recovered.
  • On August 15, a class 12 student residing at Peelamedu, India, was sightseeing with friends and noticed a huge well dug in a field. While leaning over the edge of the well to take a selfie to show its depth, he slipped and fell in. The well is 120 feet deep with a water level of 60 feet. He died in the well before he could be rescued.
  • On August 16, a 35-year-old Indian woman from Muzaffarnagar was taking a selfie with a gun when it fired. She sustained serious injuries.
  • On August 20, a Pakistani man drowned while attempting to take a selfie at the Kunhar River that flows through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. His cousin jumped in to save him, but she was also swept away and drowned. It was the second selfie-related death incident on the Kunhar River in August.
  • On August 21, three Pakistani women were killed while taking selfies near a road at Lake Saiful Muluk. They were inside a melt hole, or cave, at the front edge of a receding glacier when the roof collapsed and they were crushed.

    • September

  • On September 17 in India, six young women (engineering students from Vaagdevi college of Engineering, Bollikunta) were standing on a rock at the edge of a reservoir in Warangal district of Telangana, taking selfies. One student slipped and fell into the lake, and one after the next went in to save the other, each subsequently drowning. One student survived, five drowned.
  • A 66-year-old Italian tourist visiting Kenya was having breakfast with his wife in a tent at the Swara Camp in Kulalu ranch. He saw wild elephants and approached them closely. While taking a selfie he was charged by an elephant, sustained serious injuries to his leg and died at the camp.

    • October

  • On October 1, a 19-year-old man from Nepal was taking a selfie when he slipped off a cliff and fell into Dordi stream in Lamjung district. His body was not immediately recovered.
  • On October 1, two teenagers from Hyderabad were taking selfies in a quarry recently filled with rainwater. They went too deep and, unable to swim to shore, they drowned.
  • On October 8, two Sri Lankan girls were visiting Ain Garziz in Oman with their families. While at a picnic, they were taking selfies near a deep spring. One girl slipped into the spring and grabbed the hand of the other. She was unable to pull her companion out and was dragged down into the water where both of the girls drowned.
  • A 25-year-old Indian man fell to his death while taking a selfie with his friends at Lion's Point Valley near Lonavla. He slipped and fell 200 feet (61 m) into a gorge and died on the spot.
  • On October 9, a Chinese woman visiting Sri Lanka fell from a moving train while taking a selfie. She later died from her injuries.
  • On October 11, a student drowned in the river Jaldhaka at Bindu village, Kalimpong subdivision in West Bengal. The body was retrieved four days later.
  • A 25-year-old software engineer fell into a river and drowned in Gajapati, Odisha, India, while taking a selfie.
  • A 12-year-old Russian schoolgirl climbed over a balcony on the 17th floor of a building and fell while taking a selfie.

    • November

  • On November 11, two students drowned while taking selfies; they were swept away by currents in the Nagarjuna Sagar canal.

    • January

  • A 21-year-old engineering student died when he was hit by a speeding train while trying to click a selfie on 1 January 2017, in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
  • In Sukkur, Pakistan, a man fell into the River Indus and drowned on 4 January 2017 as he tried to capture his selfie at the Lansdowne Bridge. Asif Jamil, a resident of Christian Colony, was visiting the bridge with his wife for a picnic.
  • In Rijeka, Croatia, on 6 January 2017, two men climbed the container on the train composition where they wanted to take a selfie. A 20-year-old was killed and his 19-year-old friend is still in serious condition and doctors are fighting for his life, because of burns of second- and third-degree on more than 70 percent of his body as a result of electric shock of 25,000 volts.
  • A second-year college student died while taking a selfie in front of a running train on a railway track in Chandrakona Road, West Midnapur district, West Bengal, India, on 14 January 2017. He was immediately hit by the speeding train and died on the spot.
  • On January 13, 2017, a girl, Ashana Bhandari, fell into Alaknanda river while she was trying to take a selfie near Koteshwar temple in Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand, India. In another such incident in 2016, a 24-year-old girl fell into Song river at Maldevta on the outskirts of Dehradun while she was trying to take a selfie.
  • Two teenagers were crushed under a train while posing between two railway tracks at Anand Vihar, east Delhi, on 14 January 2017. They had decided to go to the Anand Vihar railway lines to click "daring selfies" for their social media profiles.
  • On 25 January, a 22-year-old man died while attempting to take a selfie on the railway tracks near Dhuri Lines, Ludhiana, Punjab, India. A passenger train hit him while he was taking selfies.

    • February

  • On 5 February 2017, a 22-year-old college student died after falling into a 50-metre-deep ravine while taking a selfie near Kolukhet on Dehradun-Mussoorie road in Uttarakhand, India.
  • In February 2017, four women were taking selfies on a rock in a river in New Zealand, ignoring a warning siren signalling a dam was about to be opened. One of the women, a 21-year-old university student, was swept to her death by the following torrent of water.

    • References

    List of selfie-related injuries and deaths Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA