Death by Selfie?

Believe it or not, there have been 12 deaths related to selfies this year … more than the number of deaths by shark (8 deaths)!  Many of the selfie deaths are the result of a fall.  It is really important to focus more on your unfamiliar setting, than it is to focus on the screen of your phone.  Recently a park in Colorado was closed, because people couldn’t resist attempting to take selfies with the bears.  REALLY??  What are we thinking?!

A cool selfie that will generate a lot of activity on your social media just isn’t worth dying for … be safe out there!  ƒº

Here is a list (from Wikipedia) of a few of this year’s dangerous selfies:

January

• A 21-year-old South African woman died after falling from Northcliff Hill, Johannesburg as a male companion was setting up a tripod for a selfie.
• Two young men died in the Ural Mountains as they pulled the pin from a hand grenade to take a selfie.
• Three Indian students aged 20 to 22 died trying to take a "daredevil selfie" close to an oncoming train. • March • Seven Indian youths drowned while taking selfies on Mangrul Lake in Kuhi Taluka, India. Their boat had tilted as they stood up to pose.

May

• An 18-year-old Romanian teenager died when she attempted to take the "ultimate selfie", posing with a friend on top of a train in Romania.  Her leg touched a live wire above, sending an electrical surge of up to 27,000 volts through her body
• A teenager climbed on a railway bridge in the Ryazan region in Russia to take a selfie and died when he came in contact with live wires.
• A 21-year-old Russian 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.
• A 21-year-old man from Indonesia fell into the crater of Mount Merapi and died while attempting to take a selfie.
• A Singaporean tourist died after falling into the sea while taking a selfie on a cliff off the coast of Bali, Indonesia.

July

• A 21-year-old Russian university graduate died after falling from a bridge while she was trying to take a memorable selfie next to Moscow City financial district.
• A man from San Diego was hospitalised for five days following an attempt to take a selfie with a rattlesnake.

August

• A man died in the annual bull running festival in the town of Villaseca de la Sagra trying to take a selfie with the animals.

September

• 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.
• A Japanese tourist fell down a staircase to his death while taking a selfie at the Taj Mahal.
• A 17-year-old Russian student fell to his death attempting to take a selfie while hanging from a nine-story building.
• An Indian engineering student died while taking selfies with friends in India when the rock on which he was standing cracked, gave way and he fell sixty feet

 Have you ever taken a risky selfie?  If so, comment below!