Daily Archives: 5 July 2016

More tourists die taking selfies than are killed by sharks

05 Tuesday Jul 2016

Posted by in culture

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I came across this strange statistic, I’m not sure why it is resonating with me. Anyway, it seems more tourists die taking selfies than are killed by shark attacks.

Two travelers reportedly died in different instances in Peru recently while standing too close to the cliff ledge when posing for a photo. Last week, a 51-year-old man died when losing his balance at the edge of a cliff at Machu Picchu, in an area closed off to the public. He fell 130 feet. Prior to that, a South Korean tourist fell in northern Peru while taking a selfie at the Gocta waterfall, one of the tallest waterfalls in the world. He plunged more than 1,600 feet.

There is now an entire Wikipedia page devoted to selfie-related injuries and deaths. The latter ranging from a 21-year-old Spanish man who was electrocuted in March 2014 after climbing on top of a train to take a selfie with friends, to a Japanese tourist who died last August by injuries sustained when falling down a staircase while taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal. In 2016, numerous people have died falling off cliffs or drowning while attempting to take photos.

Selfie photos taken too close to wildlife have become a danger as well, leading to the temporary shut down of Colorado’s Waterton Canyon last August.

“We’ve actually seen people using selfie sticks to try and get as close to the bears as possible, sometimes within 10 feet of wild bears,” said Brandon Ransom, Denver Water’s manager of recreation, in a blog post.

In May of this year, a Chinese businessman was killed by a walrus at a wildlife park after posing too close to the animal for a selfie.

link so you can see I’m not making this up: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-selfie-is-now-deadlier-than-jaws-2015-09-22