DEADLY SELFIES

We all have to be careful about a new threat to our lives - the selfie. Love them or hate them, taking a photo of yourself caused three times as many accidents that resulted in deaths in 2016 as shark attacks. In 2016, 18 people lost their lives while trying to take a selfie.

Accidents caused by selfies may happen anywhere and anytime. A website listed the 18 deaths in 2016. Two Ukrainian women died while taking a selfie with a hand grenade; three Japanese men died while taking selfies on train tracks; five American men fell while taking a selfie on a cliff in Australia; a Chinese tourist died falling down the stairs while trying to take a selfie at the Statue of Liberty in New York. There may be many more that weren’t listed. A Ukrainian politician said that in 2016, there were more than 50 selfie related accidents in Ukraine alone.”

According to records, more people died in the first half of 2017 than in 2016 in selfie related accidents. For example, a 20-year-old student fell to his death from the top of a 40-story building in Taiwan while taking a selfie. His best friend said, that he was not happy with the photos they had taken, so he decided to climb up the wall. Also six friends in Korea fell off a cliff and were seriously injured after the gate they were leaning on collapsed during a group selfie.