Did you know that it’s dangerous to take Selfies? In 2014 alone, there were 33,000 injuries and deaths attributed to selfies. In 2017 there were 259 selfie deaths. This is a dangerous trend that has to stop.
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.
The United States Department of Transportation estimated that during 2014, the so-called “year of the selfie”,[1][2] 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.[3] A 2015 survey by Erie Insurance Group found that 4% of all drivers admitted to taking selfies while driving.[4]
The Washington Post reported in January 2016 that “about half” of at least 27 “selfie related” deaths in 2015 had occurred in India.[5] 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.[6] The Indian Ministry of Tourism 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.[6] No-selfie zones were also established in certain areas of the Kumbh Mela because organizers feared bottlenecks caused by selfie-takers could spark stampedes.[5]
A 2018 study of news reports showed that between October 2011 and November 2017, there were 259 selfie deaths in 137 incidents reported globally, with the highest occurrences in India followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan.[7] The mean age was 22.94 years old, with male deaths outnumbering female about three to one.
Date | Country | Casualties | Type | Description | Source(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
15 October 2011 | United States | 3 | Transport | Three teenagers (two sisters and a friend) were killed by a train while posing for a selfie, which is just visible in the final picture they posted to Facebook along with the caption “Standing right by a train ahaha this is awesome!!!!”. | [8][9] |
13 December 2013 | United Kingdom | 1 | Transport | A 17-year-old girl committed suicide by jumping in front of a Central line train at Redbridge tube station. She took a selfie of the incident which she titled “last pic before I die”. She was reportedly distraught over gossip about pictures she had sent to a boy. | [10] |
March 2014 | Spain | 1 | Electrocution | A 21-year-old man was electrocuted after climbing on top of a train to take a selfie with friends and touching a wire that (contrary to the assumptions of the group) turned out to be live. One of the friends was hospitalized in serious condition. | [11] |
April 2014 | United States | 1 | Transport | A 32-year-old woman from North Carolina was driving when her vehicle veered across the center median, collided with a recycling truck, left the road, hit a tree, and burst into flames – moments after posting selfies online when she heard Pharrell Williams‘ song “Happy“. The truck driver was unharmed. | [12][13] |
22 April 2014 | Russia | 1 | Fall | A 17-year-old girl fell 30 ft to her death after being hit by 1,500 volts when attempting to grab live wires on a railway bridge. | [14] |
May 2014 | India | 1 | Transport | A 15-year-old boy was killed by a train while posing for a selfie on the tracks. | [15] |
31 May 2014 | United States | 2 | Transport | A 29-year-old amateur pilot allegedly took selfies using a GoPro camera before his plane crashed, killing himself and the passenger on board. | [16] |
June 2014 | Italy | 1 | Fall | A 16-year-old girl died in Taranto after plunging 60 feet onto rocks while she was trying to take a photograph of herself on the seafront. | [17] |
July 2014 | Philippines | 1 | Fall | A 14-year-old high school student in the Philippines fell to her death after losing her balance while taking a selfie with a friend near a staircase landing of their school in suburban Pasig. According to doctors, she sustained a sharp blow to the head from the fall and broke a rib which pierced a kidney. | [18] |
August 2014 | Philippines | 1 | Firearm | A 15-year-old boy in the Philippines was critically wounded after accidentally shooting himself while taking a selfie in which his other hand was holding a gun to his chin. | [19] |
2 August 2014 | Mexico | 1 | Firearm | A 21-year-old man was drinking with friends and took a selfie to post on Facebook. He posed with a gun pointed at his face. The man accidentally shot himself and he was declared dead at the scene. | [20] |
August 2014 | Portugal | 2 | Fall | A Polish couple fell to their death off a cliff in Portugal after crossing a safety barrier to take a selfie with their children. Their two children who were present at the scene survived. | [21] |
August 2014 | India | 1 | Electrocution | In Kerala, a 14-year-old boy was electrocuted while attempting to take a selfie on top of a stationary train. | [22] |
August 2014 | United States | 1 | Transport | A 36-year-old man, of Niagara, N.D., struck and killed a 54-year-old woman of Portland, N.D. while driving. She was riding a bicycle and he was distracted as he took a selfie, striking her from behind with his vehicle. | [23] |
October 2014 | Philippines | 1 | Drowned | An 18-year-old woman in the Philippines was posing for a group selfie on a beach with friends. She was captured by a strong wave and drowned. | [24][25][26] |
November 2014 | Spain | 1 | Fall | A 23-year-old student from Poland fell to her death while trying to take a selfie on the ledge of the Triana Bridge in Seville, Spain. | [27][28] |
January 2015 | South Africa | 1 | Fall | A 21-year-old woman died after falling from Northcliff Hill, Johannesburg, as a male companion was setting up a tripod for a selfie. Reports vary as to the identity of the companion. | [29][30] |
January 2015 | Russia | 2 | Other | Two young men died in the Ural Mountains after they pulled the pin from a live hand grenade to take a selfie. The phone with the picture remained as evidence of the circumstance of their deaths. | [31] |
January 2015 | India | 3 | Transport | Three students aged 20 to 22 died trying to take a “daredevil selfie” close to an oncoming train on railway tracks of Mathura, near Kosikala. | [32] |
4 February 2015 | India | 1 | Transport | An Israeli man traveling on a train from Mumbai to Goa in India was attempting to take a selfie and fell out of the moving train, resulting in his death. | [33] |
21 February 2015 | United States | 1 | Transport | A man in Kalama, Washington, stepped out onto a railroad track to take a selfie with himself and a woman with a passing train in the background. The man misjudged which track the oncoming train was on and was struck and died at the scene. | [34] |
March 2015 | India | 7 | Drowned | Seven youths drowned while taking selfies on Mangrul Lake near Kuhi, about 20 km from Nagpur, India. Their boat had tipped over as they were standing up to pose. | [35][36] |
April 2015 | Serbia | 1 | Transport | A 22-year-old man was trying to recreate a scene from his favorite movie Barking at the Stars by running in front of a train, beating it and being hailed a hero. As he ran in front of the train, he tried to take a selfie to document the scene. He was killed instantly when the express train hit him at full speed in the village of Laćarak near the northern Serbian town of Sremska Mitrovica. | [37] |
1 April 2015 | Italy | 1 | Fall | A 60-year-old German tourist skiing in the Trentino-Alto Adige region of Italy was reported missing when he failed to pick up his children from ski school. Subsequent investigation found that while skiing alone, he took off his skis and went off-trail to take a selfie next to a cliff, where he slipped and plunged 200 metres to his death. | [38] |
May 2015 | Romania | 2 | Electrocution | An 18-year-old woman died when she attempted to take the “ultimate selfie”, posing with a friend on top of a train in the north-eastern Romanian city of Iași when her leg touched a live wire above which electrocuted her with 27,000 volts. A 17-year-old friend who accompanied her was hospitalised. | [39] |
May 2015 | Russia | 1 | Electrocution | A teenage boy climbed on a railway bridge in Ryazan Oblast of Russia to take a selfie and died when he came in contact with live wires. | [40] |
May 2015 | Russia | 1 | Firearm | A 21-year-old woman asked a security guard at her office to give her a 9-millimeter rubber-bullet pistol for taking a selfie and accidentally shot herself in the head, sustaining heavy injuries. | [41] |
May 2015 | Indonesia | 1 | Fall | A 21-year-old man from Yogyakarta fell into the crater of Mount Merapi while attempting to take a selfie and died. | [42][43] |
May 2015 | Indonesia | 1 | Fall | A Singaporean tourist died after falling into the sea while taking a selfie on a cliff in Nusa Lembongan, an island off the coast of Bali. | [44] |
June 2015 | Pakistan | 1 | Firearm | A 15-year-old boy in Pakistan was taking selfies with a toy gun when police opened fire on him, killing him. | [45] |
June 2015 | Russia | 2 | Electrocution | Two teenage girls were electric shocked, but survived, at a railroad yard in the city of Taganrog in southern Russia. They tried to climb on the tank car of an old freight train that was standing at the platform in order to take a selfie, but did not realize it was still in use and on a live track. | [46] |
June 2015 | Croatia | 1 | Fall | A 54-year-old Slovak tourist visiting Plitvice Lakes National Park in Croatia fell to her death from a rock while taking a selfie. | [47][48] |
July 2015 | Russia | 1 | Fall | A 21-year-old university graduate died after falling from a bridge while she was trying to take a memorable selfie next to the Moscow International Business Center. | [49] |
July 2015 | United States | 1 | Animal | A man from San Diego was hospitalised for five days following an attempt to take a selfie with a rattlesnake which then bit him. | [50] |
July 2015 | United States | 1 | Animal | A woman in Yellowstone National Park was gored by an American bison while taking a selfie. She was treated for injuries. | [51] |
July 2015 | United Kingdom | 1 | Electrocution | A man was fatally struck by lightning at Brecon Beacons supposedly due to the selfie stick he had attracting the bolt. | [52] |
July 2015 | Philippines | 1 | Transport | A woman vacationing in Pagudpud, Ilocos Norte, asked her family to stop their car so she could take a selfie by the side of the road with a scenic view. She was hit by a speeding motorcycle while taking the picture. She was taken to hospital and died. The driver of the motorcycle was a minor. | [53] |
9 August 2015 | Spain | 1 | Animal | A man was gored to death in the annual bull-running festival in the town of Villaseca de la Sagra while trying to take a selfie with a bull. | [54][55] |
August 2015 | China | 1 | Fall | A man was discovered with his phone and selfie stick at the bottom of a 100-foot cliff at Long Men waterfall in Zhejiang. Based on photographic evidence on his phone, local police speculated that he lost his footing while taking a selfie and fell to his death. It was not known when he died or how long his body had been there. | |
August 2015 | Russia | 1 | Electrocution | A 14-year-old girl died after being shocked with a live wire when trying to take a selfie on a train. | [56] |
September 2015 | United States | 1 | Firearm | A 19-year-old from Houston died after trying to take an Instagram selfie while holding a loaded gun to his head. He accidentally fired the gun and shot himself in the throat. | [57] |
September 2015 | India | 1 | Fall | A Japanese tourist fell down a staircase to his death while taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal, Agra, India. | [58] |
September 2015 | Russia | 1 | Fall | A 17-year-old student, Andrey Retrovsky from Vologda, Russia, fell to his death attempting to take a selfie while hanging from a rope from a nine-story building. The rope snapped. Retrovsky was known for taking ‘extreme’ selfies and posting them to his Instagram account “drewsssik”. | [59][60] |
September 2015 | India | 1 | Fall | An engineering student died while taking selfies with friends at Kolli Hills, Namakkal, Tamil Nadu, when the rock on which he was standing cracked and gave way, plunging him 60 feet and causing his death from head injuries. | [61][62] |
October 2015 | Spain | 1 | Electrocution | A 14-year-old from Barcelona was hospitalised with electric shock after trying to take a selfie on the roof of a train car. | [63] |
October 2015 | Chile | 1 | Other | A 68-year-old Belgian woman was visiting the El Tatio geyser field located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile. While attempting to take a selfie in front of an active geyser she stepped backwards and fell into the scalding hot water. Her husband pulled her out, but she died in hospital days later from burns over 85 percent of her body. | [64] |
November 2015 | India | 2 | Drowned | Two engineering students of Wadhwan, Gujarat, drowned in Narmada Canal after slipping down the bank while taking selfies. | [65] |
November 2015 | India | 2 | Transport | A first-year student of College Sourav Dey died and another was critically injured in the Kalyani area in Nadia district of West Bengal, India, as they were run over by a train while they were taking selfies. | [66] |
November 2015 | India | 1 | Electrocution | A 14-year-old boy, who was trying to take a selfie atop a stationary train wagon at Nahur station yard in Mumbai, was electrocuted and died a few hours later. He accidentally came in contact with a 25,000-volt overhead wire and suffered 80 percent burns. | [67][68] |
December 2015 | Pakistan | 1 | Transport | A 22-year-old man, the son of a railway employee of Rawalpindi, Pakistan, died while attempting to take a selfie while standing on the track in front of a moving train. | [69] |
December 2015 | Turkey | 2 | Transport | Five teenagers lay down in the middle of the road near an airport to take a selfie with a plane landing in the background. It was at night, and a truck driver did not see them and accidentally ran them over, killing two of them. The teenagers had been drinking. | [70] |
1 January 2016 | India | 1 | Transport | 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.” | [71][72] |
5 January 2016 | Philippines | 1 | Fall | 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”. | [73] |
7 January 2016 | Brazil | 1 | Fall | A 27-year-old man fell into the sea and died after an attempt to take a selfie on the rocks of Cantão do Indaiá in Bertioga, on the coast of São Paulo. | [74] |
9 January 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | A 20-year-old fell to his death while taking a selfie from the top of the Reasi Fort at Jammu and Kashmir, India. | [75] |
9 January 2016 | India | 2 | Drowned | A 20-year-old college student drowned at Bandstand Promenade in Bandra, Mumbai. She is believed to have been swept away in the high tide. According to the woman’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.” A man also drowned after going into the water to rescue the girl. | [76][77][78] |
12 February 2016 | India | 3 | Drowned | 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. | [79] |
13 February 2016 | India | 2 | Drowned | An 18-year-old college student drowned after falling off of the Waldevi Dam in Nashik, India, while taking a selfie. His 18-year-old friend jumped into the water in an attempt to save him, but also drowned. | [80][81] |
22 February 2016 | India | 5 | Fall | 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. | [82] |
29 February 2016 | Nepal | 1 | Drowned | A Nepalese woman 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 woman who originally fell was rescued but her friend who tried to save her died. | [83] |
2 March 2016 | United States | 1 | Firearm | 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. | [84] |
5 March 2016 | Australia | 1 | Firearm | A 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. | [85] |
12 March 2016 | Hong Kong, China | 1 | Fall | A 30-year-old man fell off Lion Rock in Hong Kong while taking a selfie and died. | [86] |
5 April 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [87][88] |
15 April 2016 | India | 2 | Transport | 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. | [89] |
16 April 2016 | Brazil | 1 | Fall | A 27-year-old woman fell from a height of 35m at a waterfall in the Ibitipoca State Park in Minas Gerais. She was rescued by the fire department and survived. | [90] |
16 April 2016 | India | 1 | Transport | A 16-year-old boy died while taking a selfie at a railway crossing in Saharanpur, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India. | [91] |
21 April 2016 | Brazil | 1 | Fall | In Campos dos Goytacazes in Rio de Janeiro, a 32-year-old woman died after she fell in a waterfall while attempting a selfie. | [92] |
26 April 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | While taking a selfie, a 25-year-old fell off the Dolphin Nose cliff near Vattakanal village, situated 8 km from the Kodaikanal Lake, Tamil Nadu, India. | [93] |
1 May 2016 | India | 1 | Firearm | A 15-year-old boy from Pathankot, India, died after he accidentally shot himself with his father’s revolver while taking a selfie with the gun pointed at his head. | [94][95] |
May 2016 | China | 2 | Animal | A Chinese businessman, at a local wildlife park in the city of Rongcheng, Shandong 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. | |
3 June 2016 | India | 1 | Drowned | 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. | [96] |
3 June 2016 | United States | 1 | Firearm | 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. | [97] |
12 June 2016 | India | 2 | Drowned | 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, but he also drowned. | [98] |
18 June 2016 | United States | 1 | Fall | 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. | [99][100] |
22 June 2016 | India | 7 | Drowned | Seven people aged 16 to 31 were swept away and drowned while taking a selfie in the river Ganges in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. According to a police official, they had gone for a picnic at Kanpur Ganges 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. | [101] |
22 June 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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 Mumbai Pune Expressway in Maharashtra, India. He died on the spot. | [102][103] |
29 June 2016 | Peru | 1 | Fall | 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. | [104] |
29 June 2016 | Peru | 1 | Fall | 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”. | [104][105] |
July 2016 | Croatia | 1 | Fall | A 20-year-old Canadian tourist plunged off a viewpoint 75 meters (246 ft) high 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. | [47][48] |
2 July 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | A 32-year-old 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. | [106] |
6 July 2016 | India | 4 | Drowned | 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. | [107] |
12 July 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [108] |
12 July 2016 | Nepal | 1 | Animal | 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. | [109] |
13 July 2016 | India | 2 | 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. | [110] |
13 July 2016 | Vietnam | 2 | Transport | 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. | [111] |
17 July 2016 | India | 2 | Drowned | A married couple ages 40 and 42, from Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu, were swept away by a “giant wave” in Kanyakumari, India while they were taking a selfie. | [112] |
19 July 2016 | India | 2 | Fall | 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. | [113] |
23 July 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [114] |
27 July 2016 | India | 1 | Drowned | 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. | [115] |
30 July 2016 | India | 1 | Drowned | A 20-year-old 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. She 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. | [116][117] |
31 July 2016 | India | 2 | Fall | 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. | [118] |
2 August 2016 | United States | 1 | Firearm | 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. | [119] |
3 August 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [120] |
7 August 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [121] |
9 August 2016 | Pakistan | 3 | Drowned | 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. | [122] |
12 August 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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”. | [123] |
12 August 2016 | India | 4 | Drowned | Four teenagers aged 15–19 took selfies in the ocean surf at Maharashtra during a storm. They were swept away by a large wave (their bodies were not recovered). | [124] |
15 August 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [125] |
16 August 2016 | India | 1 | Firearm | A 35-year-old Indian woman from Muzaffarnagar was taking a selfie with a gun when it fired. She sustained serious injuries. | [126] |
20 August 2016 | Pakistan | 2 | Drowned | 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. | [127] |
21 August 2016 | Pakistan | 3 | Other | 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. | [128][129] |
17 September 2016 | India | 5 | Drowned | Six young women (engineering students from Vaagdevi college of Engineering, Bollikunta) were standing on a rock at the edge of a reservoir in Warangal Urban district of Telangana, India, taking selfies. One student slipped and fell into the lake, and one after another the rest went in to save her. One student survived, five drowned. | [130][131] |
18 September 2016 | Kenya | 1 | Animal | 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. | [132] |
1 October 2016 | Nepal | 1 | Fall | 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. | [133] |
1 October 2016 | India | 2 | Drowned | 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. | [134] |
8 October 2016 | Oman | 2 | Drowned | 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. | [135] |
9 October 2016 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [136] |
9 October 2016 | Sri Lanka | 1 | Transport | A Chinese woman visiting Sri Lanka fell from a moving train while taking a selfie. She later died from her injuries. | [137] |
11 October 2016 | India | 1 | Drowned | A student drowned in the Jaldhaka River at Bindu village, Kalimpong subdivision in West Bengal. The body was retrieved four days later. | [138] |
12 October 2016 | India | 1 | Drowned | A 25-year-old software engineer fell into a river and drowned in Gajapati, Odisha, India, while taking a selfie. | [139] |
18 October 2016 | Russia | 1 | Fall | A 12-year-old Russian schoolgirl climbed over a balcony on the 17th floor of a building and fell while taking a selfie. | [140] |
11 November 2016 | India | 2 | Drowned | Two students drowned while taking selfies; they were swept away by currents in the Nagarjuna Sagar canal. | [141][142] |
1 January 2017 | India | 1 | Transport | A 21-year-old engineering student died when he was hit by a speeding train while trying to take a selfie in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. | [143][144] |
4 January 2017 | Pakistan | 1 | Drowned | In Sukkur, Pakistan, a man fell into the Indus River and drowned as he tried to capture his selfie at the Lansdowne Bridge Rohri. Asif Jamil, a resident of Christian Colony, was visiting the bridge with his wife for a picnic. | [145] |
6 January 2017 | Croatia | 2 | Electrocution | In Rijeka, Croatia, two men climbed onto a container on a train where they wanted to take a selfie. A 20-year-old was killed and his 19-year-old friend was in serious condition, with second and third degree burns on more than 70 percent of his body as a result of an electric shock of 25,000 volts. | [146] |
13 January 2017 | India | 1 | Drowned | A woman, Ashana Bhandari, fell into the Alaknanda River while she was trying to take a selfie near Koteshwar temple in Rudraprayag district in Uttarakhand, India. | [147] |
14 January 2017 | India | 1 | Transport | A second-year college student died while taking a selfie in front of a running train on a railway track in Chandrakona Road, Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. He was immediately hit by the speeding train and died on the spot. | [148] |
14 January 2017 | India | 2 | Transport | Two teenagers were crushed under a train while posing between two railway tracks at Anand Vihar, east Delhi. They had decided to go to the Anand Vihar railway lines to click “daring selfies” for their social media profiles. | [149] |
25 January 2017 | India | 1 | Transport | 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. | [150] |
5 February 2017 | India | 1 | Fall | 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. | [151] |
9 February 2017 | New Zealand | 1 | Drowned | 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 dam surge. | [152][153] |
25 March 2017 | United States | 1 | Drowned | A 14-year-old girl was standing on a log with friends at a beach in Bandon, Oregon to pose for photos, possibly including selfies. She fell off and was pinned underwater by the log due to the receding tide. According to the girls mother, when this occurred it was not a selfie rather her picture was being taken by a friend. | [154][155] |
25 March 2017 | Mexico | 2 | Transport | In the city of Chínipas de Almada, Chihuahua, Mexico, two girls aged 17 and 18 went to see horse races at a track next to an airport runway. They decided to get on top of their pickup’s roof, and started taking selfies as a plane was landing. The plane’s wing fatally injured both girls. This would later earn them a Darwin Award. | [156][157] |
13 April 2017 | India | 5 | Transport | Police said Taraknath Makal was travelling by train with four friends – all aged between 25 and 30 years – when he reportedly leaned out of the door to take a selfie. However, he lost his footing and fell off the train. Makal’s companions jumped out to save him, but ended up getting mowed down by another train coming from the opposite direction. While the four friends – Sumit Kumar, Sanjiv Polley, Kajal Saha and Chandan Polley – lost their lives, Makal later died in hospital. The incident occurred between Liluah and Belur stations, in the vicinity of Howrah, India. | [158] |
30 April 2017 | Germany | 1 | Transport | A Scottish man was knocked down and killed after trying to take a selfie on a German motorway. He was with two friends when he was hit by a car on the A24 Autobahn in Gudow, near Hamburg. Witnesses reported seeing the three men taking “cell phone pictures of themselves”. | [159] |
8 May 2017 | India | 1 | Drowned | A 21-year-old engineering student slipped from a rock and drowned near Bandra Fort in Mumbai after trying to take a selfie with her mother and sister. | [160] |
24 May 2017 | India | 2 | Drowned | Two youths 21 and 22 years old from Hooghly district, India, drowned in a fish pond while taking a selfie as they did not know how to swim. They were taking selfies in waist-deep water but suddenly, the duo slipped from the bank and went underwater. The locals first failed to find their bodies. Later, divers from Kolkata recovered both the bodies from the pond. | [161] |
30 May 2017 | India | 2 | Transport | At Alwal Railway station near Secunderabad, India, a man died while another lost his hand when the duo was run over by a moving train while taking selfies. | [162] |
7 June 2017 | India | 1 | Animal | A man in Dhenkanal district was seriously injured by a wild elephant when he tried to take a selfie with the animal. | [163] |
11 June 2017 | Sri Lanka | 2 | Transport | Two youths from same family in Sri Lanka were killed when they were hit by a train while they were taking a selfie standing on the rail track. According to the police, the two brothers, aged 25 and 12, were standing on the coastal train track between the Bambalapitiya and Kollupitiya stations and attempting to take a selfie when they were hit by Aluthgama bound express train from Maradana to Galle. | [164] |
11 June 2017 | Russia | 4 | Transport | Four children aged 10 to 13 were hit by a train while trying to take a selfie on a railway line in Nadezhdinsky District of Primorsky Krai, 43 km northwest of Vladivostok, Russia. Three were killed and one survived with injuries. | [165][166] |
13 June 2017 | Sri Lanka | 2 | Transport | A 24-year-old groom was killed and his bride seriously injured when the newly-wed couple tried to take a selfie on the railway track at Kahawa, in the Southern Province, Sri Lanka. According to eyewitnesses, the couple had ignored warning signals given by the people in the area saying that the train was coming. | [167] |
13 June 2017 | Russia | 1 | Electrocution | A 15-year-old boy was killed when he tried to climb onto a high-voltage wire to take a selfie in Perm Krai, Russia. | |
16 June 2017 | Russia | 1 | Electrocution | A 17-year-old boy was killed when he took a selfie near a high-voltage electric cable in Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia. | |
17 June 2017 | Russia | 1 | Electrocution | A 14-year-old girl was electrocuted when taking a selfie on a railway bridge in Moscow Oblast, Russia, when her head accidentally touched the overhead wires. | |
22 June 2017 | United Kingdom | 1 | Fall | A 23-year-old woman from South Korea fell from Seaford Head while jumping in the air to pose for a photo. | [168] |
27 June 2017 | India | 1 | Drowned | A 17-year-old girl drowned in Mumbai when taking selfies with her friends. She was swept away by a strong wave. | [169] |
1 July 2017 | Nigeria | 2 | Drowned | Four undergraduate students of the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria were taking selfies in a canoe while boating on a campus pond. The canoe capsized. Two students who could swim barely made it to safety while two others drowned. | [170] |
16 July 2017 | India | 48 | Fire | 48 people were injured when standing too close to a burning bakery in Chennai, India to take selfies. They repeatedly ignored warnings advising them to move away from the blaze. | [171] |
25 July 2017 | India | 1 | Animal | A 30-year-old man sneaked into the Bannerghatta Biological Park near Bangalore, India, with friends to take selfies with an elephant that later trampled him to death. | [172] |
26 July 2017 | Hungary | 1 | Fall | A local girl fell off a bridge in Budapest suffering serious injuries while taking a selfie. | [173] |
26 July 2017 | India | 1 | Drowned | An 18-year-old was swept into the sea and drowned while he was taking a selfie at a beach in Mumbai, India during high tide. | [174] |
11 August 2017 | India | 1 | Electrocution | A 17-year-old boy climbed on top of a train in Ambarnath, India to take a selfie but came into contact with a live wire, suffering severe injuries from the resulting electric shock. | [175] |
26 August 2017 | India | 1 | Electrocution | A 17-year-old boy attempted to take a selfie on top of a train carriage in Tambaram railway station, India. He touched a live wire, suffered severe burns from electric shock and died four days later. | [176] |
2 September 2017 | India | 1 | Animal | A youth in Rourkela, Odisha was trampled to death by a wild elephant while trying to take a selfie with the animal. | [177] |
12 September 2017 | United Kingdom | 1 | Transport | A 41-year-old woman from New Zealand who took a selfie as she rode her bike died after she fell off shortly afterwards, following a night out to celebrate her mum’s birthday in London. Graphic designer and mother-of-two was with mum when they rode home from the pub and the accident happened, an inquest into Greenway’s was told on Thursday. The 41-year-old had drunk two cocktails and four glasses of wine. But she was not wearing a helmet and may have been riding relaxed and one-handed when she tumbled to the floor, suffering fatal head injuries. | [178] |
16 September 2017 | Malaysia | 1 | Fall | A 20-year-old man believed to be taking a selfie died after he fell from the 16th floor of a resort hotel in Genting Highlands, Pahang, Malaysia. It is believed that he had climbed a wall on the 16th floor of the hotel’s car park to take photographs when he slipped and fell. | [179] |
12 November 2017 | United Kingdom | 1 | Fall | A 20-year-old woman from New Zealand died on November 14 after she allegedly attempted to take a selfie near a second-storey window in London. She suffered a serious brain injury as a result of the fall. | [180] |
25 December 2017 | Mexico | 1 | Fall | A 20-year-old woman from Aguascalientes (Mexico) died during a selfie session in the Malpaso Dam, a popular spot in the State of Aguascalientes. According to witnesses, she accessed a restricted zone to take the selfie before slipping and falling 15 meters, dying from severe craneoencephalic traumatism. | [181] |
31 December 2017 | Australia | 6 | Transport | A 44-year-old pilot was supposedly elbowed in the head by a passenger taking selfies aboard his flight, causing the plane to lose control and crash. He was killed in the crash along with all of the plane’s passengers: A 58-year-old male and his fiancée, 48, his sons, 23 and 25, and her daughter, 11. | [182] |
8 January 2018 | Croatia | 1 | Electrocution | In Zagreb, Croatia, 14-year-old boy climbed onto the roof of a train cargo wagon where he wanted to take a selfie. He was electrocuted and his body “burned like a torch.” Firefighters were unable to take action until the train’s power was turned off. | [183] |
11 January 2018 | Colombia | 1 | Fall | In Gámbita, Santander, Colombia A 19-year-old girl fell while trying to take a selfie at “Manto de la Virgen” falls. | [184] |
24 January 2018 | India | 1 | Transport | A 22-year-old Indian man was struck by a train while recording a selfie video very close to some train tracks. His selfie video captured the entire incident, showing the man being struck after brazenly ignoring the train’s horn. The video released went viral, However, some media are reporting that it was a hoax and that the man is still alive with no injuries. | [185][186] |
9 February 2018 | Thailand | 2 | Transport | A 24-year-old Thai woman died as a result of her injuries when a train hit her while attempting to take a photo with an outgoing train in the background near Samsen train station in Bangkok’s Phaya Thai District. A man, believed to be a colleague of the victim, was knocked unconscious by the train, suffering a head injury and a broken arm. | [187] |
11 March 2018 | United States | 5 | Drowned | Five passengers aboard a sightseeing helicopter drowned after a passenger allegedly tried to take a ‘shoe selfie’ leading to the passenger’s safety tether getting caught in the emergency fuel shutoff lever. A shoe selfie is when the person’s shoes can be seen while looking out of the open door of a helicopter. | [188] |
20 April 2018 | Greece | 1 | Fall | In Keratsini, Greece, a 16-year-old boy died after he fell from a height of 60 meters after climbing on a rock to take a selfie at a park. | [189] |
22 April 2018 | Brazil | 3 | Fall | In Castelo do Piauí, Piauí, Brazil A 22-year-old woman and two girls aged 16 and 15 fell from a height of 10 meters when taking a selfie on a bridge in Piauí, Northeast Brazil when the platform on the side of the bridge collapsed. They suffered fractures. | [190] |
30 April 2018 | Brazil | 1 | Fall | At Corumbá Lake in Caldas Novas, a 34-year-old man ended up drowning, after falling off a platform in an attempt to take a selfie. | [191] |
2 May 2018 | India | 1 | Animal | In Nabarangpur, Odisha, India, a man tried to take a selfie with a wounded bear and was mauled to death. | [192] |
11 June 2018 | Indonesia | 1 | Fall | A 46-year-old Chinese tourist died after falling into the sea while taking a selfie on a cliff at Devil’s Tears on Nusa Lembongan, an island off the coast of Bali. | [193] |
12 June 2018 | Portugal | 2 | Fall | On the Praia dos Pescadores, Ericeira, Portugal, an Australian couple fell to their deaths when they tried to take a selfie on a 30-meter-high (98 ft) wall. | [194] |
22 July 2018 | Australia | 1 | Fall | A 19-year-old man from West Haven, Utah fell at Cape Solander in Kurnell near Sydney, Australia. | [195][196] |
5 September 2018 | United States | 1 | Fall | An Israeli teen fell to his death while trying to take a selfie at Yosemite National Park. | [197] |
19 September 2018 | United States | 1 | Fall | A Californian woman fell to her death while taking selfies on the edge of a 200-foot cliff over Lake Superior at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore. | [198] |
12 October 2018 | Panama | 1 | Fall | A Portuguese woman fell to her death while taking a selfie on the 27th floor balcony of a Panamanian residential building. | [199] |
25 October 2018 | United States | 2 | Fall | An Indian couple fell to their deaths from Taft Point at Yosemite National Park. | [200][201] |
12 November 2018 | Sri Lanka | 1 | Fall | A German tourist died after stumbling off a precipitous cliff in Sri Lanka while taking a photo of herself. The 35-year-old woman was taking pictures with her friend when she fell off the World’s End, a sheer cliff about 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) high. The Sri Lankan army and volunteers recovered the body after a six-hour search involving air support and climbing. World’s End is located in Horton Plains National Park in central Sri Lanka and is one of the Indian Ocean island’s biggest tourist attractions. | [202] |
4 January 2019 | Ireland | 1 | Fall | A young Indian man died after falling off the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare while taking a photo of himself. | [203][204] |
9 March 2019 | United States | 1 | Animal | A woman was mauled by a jaguar in Arizona after entering a zoo enclosure to take a selfie. She received non-life-threatening injuries, including a large gash on her arm.Note: Although widely reported as a selfie incident, the victim claimed in a later CBS News interview that she was not taking a selfie, and did not enter the zoo enclosure—she only reached across a below-waist-height concrete planter in front of a much higher fenced enclosure—misleadingly termed “climbing” or “crossing” a barrier. | [205] |
4 July 2019 | Spain | 2 | Fall | Two men aged 20 and 25 from Somerset, England died while reportedly taking a selfie on holiday in Spain. They were at Punta Prima Beach, near the town of Torrevieja. | [206] |
14 July 2019 | Italy | 1 | Fall | A 22-year-old man died after falling from a cliff with a waterfall. | [207][208] |
15 July 2019 | Pakistan | 1 | Fall | A college student fell into Kabul River in Nowshera district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while taking a selfie. | [209] |
16 July 2019 | Pakistan | 2 | Drowned | A 17-year-old girl slipped while taking a selfie and fell into a river. Her father jumped into the river in an attempt to rescue her, but was also swept away by the flowing water. | [210] |
17 August 2019 | Australia | 1 | Fall | Woman dies after falling from cliff at one of Sydney’s most popular selfie spots. | [211] |
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