Selfie kills 4 in India
Credit to Author: ASSOCIATED PRESS| Date: Wed, 09 Oct 2019 16:14:46 +0000
Four members of the same family drowned at a dam in India Sunday after slipping into the water while trying to take a selfie.
Newlywed bride V. Nivedha, 20, died alongside family members Sneha, 22, Kanniga, 20, and Santosh, 14, who was the first to slip into the water, according to local police in the state of Tamil Nadu.
Her husband, G. Perumalsamy, 25, survived and managed to save his 15-year-old sister Yuvarani Perumalsamy.
India has recorded the highest number of selfie deaths of any country in the world, according to a 2018 study. The incident took place at Pambar Dam in the southern state, according to S. Prabhakar, a senior police official from the district of Krishnagiri.
“They wanted to take a selfie at this spot on the dam and they slipped,” Prabhakar told CNN. “The water level increased while they were there.” The bodies of the deceased were recovered immediately.
Some 259 people worldwide died while taking selfies from October 2011 to November 2017, according to a study published in India’s Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.
They found that the most selfie deaths occurred in India, followed by Russia, the US and Pakistan. Most of the victims — around 72 percent — were men and under the age of 30.
India accounted for more than half the global total, with 159 reported selfie deaths since 2011.
Researchers attributed the high number to the country’s enormous population of people under 30. The issue has drawn the attention of authorities, which have taken to implementing no-selfie zones in areas deemed high risk.
AP