Death by selfie: Five selfies that went wrong

Australian blogger Justine found that standing too near wildlife can create a rather unexpected selfie. Photo courtesy: 'Our naked Australia'

With the rapid pace of digital evolution, the selfie craze has moved on to a next dangerous level.

By Nilanjana Gupta (Senior Web Journalist)

Published: Mon 11 Jan 2016, 11:03 AM

Last updated: Tue 12 Jan 2016, 1:06 AM

The moment I log into Facebook, my newsfeed is hijacked by thousands of pouts, grins, and fake faces, each seeking validation and praise from people - making me feel I need to up my game as well.
Unlike how it was 10 years ago, when social media was fledgling - in order to take selfies or rather 'self-portraits' we had to set our camera on auto timer, sit at an appropriate height and wait for that Kodak moment to be captured for eternity.
However today, with the rapid pace of digital evolution, you don't need to 'plan' a selfie. Everyone has a phone camera - so all you need is a selfie stick, pull a pout, a grin and instantly upload to your instagram and facebook pages and get the attention you're so looking for.
People today take selfies in front of fires, from the top of skyscraper buildings, in the mouth of a camel, from the top of a running train; pushing human stupidity to new, dangerous levels.
According to Mashable, at least 12 people have died this year while taking pictures of themselves making the practice more deadly than shark attacks, of which there have only been eight recorded deaths in 2015.

Take a look at five selfies that didn't end well (Source: www.likes.com)
1. In April 2014, Xenia Ignatyeva slipped from a bridge in Saint Petersburg as she took a selfie from a bridge 28 feet off the ground to impress her friends. The 17-year-old Russian girl fell on a cable, which electrocuted her.

2. This picture of Latin American singer Jenni Rivera, 43, and her friends was posted on Intagram in December 2012. The pop star took this 'groupfie' right before taking off on a private jet which crashed without leaving any survivor.

3. On April 26, 2014, 32-year-old Courtney Ann Sanford died in a head on collision with a truck in North Carolina as she posted this picture of her reacting to the Pharrel Williams song 'Happy'.

4. On January 9, 2016, a college girl who fell into the swirling Arabian Sea while clicking a selfie off a rocky part of the Mumbai beach and a youth who plunged into the water to save her on Saturday were both swept away. (Photo shows police officials searching for the bodies. Courtesy Hindustan Times)

5. Latino rapper Jadiel, uploaded this selfie to Instagram moments before he fatally crashed his bike in New York in May, 2014.

Here are some useful tips to not go down that road:

VOTE HERE: How often do you take selfies?

Watch: 25 Most Dangerous Selfies Ever!

Also read: Girl falls into sea while clicking selfie, youth missing
Also read: Some selfies are in poor taste

A few other instances of deaths due to selfies:
January 9, 2016 - Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, an attempt to take a selfie atop a fort proved fatal for a youth as he fell backwards and died
January 5, 2016 - A 19-year-old student dies after falling off the rooftop of a 20-floor condominium in Ermita, Manila on January 5, 2016.
December 15, 2015 - A 22-year-old man was fatally hit by a fast-approaching train while attempting to take a 'selfie' on the railway track in Rawalpindi.
November 3, 2015 - A 14-year old schoolboy, who was trying to take a selfie on his cellphone atop a stationary train wagon, was electrocuted and died a few hours later
November 1, 2015 - Two of the college students, Askshay Joshi (22) and Pratik Bhatt (20), drowned in the Narmada canal near Kothariya village of Wadhvan taluka in Surendranagar on Sunday evening while trying to click selfies on their mobile phones with the canal water in the background.