It’s true that some people will go to almost any length to get that perfect selfie, but would you actually put your life at risk? A recent study has found more than 330 cases of fatal or near-fatal selfies in the last decade alone, as daredevils put themselves in all kinds of dangerous or even life-threatening situations to get the perfect snap.
India has suffered vastly more selfie-related fatalities than any other country, with 176 deaths or injuries reported over the last decade. Of these, 66 were drownings that occurred while taking photos in the Ganges, Vena Reservoir and Mangrul Lake.
The United States has seen 26 selfie-related accidents, with a mix of causes ranging from getting to close to cliff edges to getting mauled by a jaguar after entering an enclosure in the zoo. In one incident, five passengers aboard a doors-off helicopter drowned in the East River of New York City after one of them allegedly tried to take a ‘shoe selfie’ that lead to a safety tether getting caught in the emergency fuel shutoff lever.
Ireland, alas, has also suffered one fatality: in January 2019, 26-year-old Anand Goel, a student in Trinity College Dublin, fell to his death at the Cliffs of Moher. The inquest ruled it an accidental death, but eyewitnesses reported that he had been taking ‘lots of selfies’ in the moments before the accident.
You can view the research in full by clicking HERE.
The countries with the most selfie-related accidents
- India (176)
- United States (26)
- Russia (19)
- Pakistan (14)
- Australia (11)
- Brazil (7)
- Spain (6)
- Sri Lanka (6)
- Croatia (5)
- Philippines (5)
(Photo by Neil Cooper)
