A cautionary tale for your vacation photos: On Wednesday, a German tourist fell to his death at Machu Picchu in Peru while trying to take a vacation snapshot.
The Washington Post reports that 51-year-old Oliver Park had asked another tourist to take his photo — so, technically, it wasn't a selfie — when he jumped for the shot and slipped off a ledge at the ancient Incan city, falling 130 feet. It took rescuers about an hour and a half to reach him, by which time he had already died of his injuries. Spanish-language newspaper El Comercio reported that Park had bypassed a security cordon and was in a restricted area when he fell. Park isn’t the only one to have lost his life searching for the perfect pose. The Telegraph reported that in 2015, more people died taking selfies than from shark attacks. In Russia, authorities started a campaign urging people to practice caution with selfies after a string of deaths. Yelena Alexeyeva, an aide to the Russian interior minister, told Al Jazeera that “the number of accidents caused by lovers of self-photography is constantly increasing.” And in the U.S., Yellowstone National Park warned against selfies after the third tourist in two months was gored by a bison while trying to snap a photo, according to the BBC. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get an awesome shot to remember your vacation, but there are some snaps that just aren’t worth it. Being able to come back from vacation is just as important as getting to go.
The Washington Post reports that 51-year-old Oliver Park had asked another tourist to take his photo — so, technically, it wasn't a selfie — when he jumped for the shot and slipped off a ledge at the ancient Incan city, falling 130 feet. It took rescuers about an hour and a half to reach him, by which time he had already died of his injuries. Spanish-language newspaper El Comercio reported that Park had bypassed a security cordon and was in a restricted area when he fell. Park isn’t the only one to have lost his life searching for the perfect pose. The Telegraph reported that in 2015, more people died taking selfies than from shark attacks. In Russia, authorities started a campaign urging people to practice caution with selfies after a string of deaths. Yelena Alexeyeva, an aide to the Russian interior minister, told Al Jazeera that “the number of accidents caused by lovers of self-photography is constantly increasing.” And in the U.S., Yellowstone National Park warned against selfies after the third tourist in two months was gored by a bison while trying to snap a photo, according to the BBC. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get an awesome shot to remember your vacation, but there are some snaps that just aren’t worth it. Being able to come back from vacation is just as important as getting to go.