Everyone loves taking selfies. For some, it’s almost part of their everyday life. However, there are others who take it to the extreme because they do it whenever, wherever – even in dangerous situations, just like this mother did.
Recently, a woman was caught on video dropping her 10-month-old baby daughter to death while she was busy taking a selfie last Thursday (May 10), reported The Star.
The incident happened in India where the parents had taken their daughter for a check-up at a nearby clinic and decided to visit the shopping mall in Ganganagar district in the north-western state of Rajasthan.
The CCTV footage shows the couple first taking a selfie along a corridor next to an escalator. The mother who was dressed in orange was carrying her daughter at that time. The footage then shows them walking off and appearing again to take the escalator to the next floor.
Witnesses reported that the husband had requested for a selfie with his wife while on the escalator, causing her to lose balance and drop their daughter. The baby then hit a railing before falling three storeys through a gap to her death.
Then, the parents can be seen leaning over the railing to look for their baby after reacting in shock and horror. The girl reportedly died instantly after hitting the ground.
“This is a clear-cut case of an accident,” the police said, adding that the couple will not take any legal action.
Previous news in January reports that an Indian man was hit by an oncoming train while attempting to take a video selfie near the tracks. He survived but was fined 500 rupees (RM30) for his actions, according to The Straits Times.
India is reported to have the highest number of deaths linked to selfies in the world according to a study by scholars from Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Delhi.
It found that of the 127 reported selfie deaths worldwide from March 2014 to September 2016, 60 per cent of them occurred in India.
Omg! I know selfies are cool and all, but please be careful! You don’t want to lose a life just for a picture!
Also read: Two Teenagers Died While Taking Selfies During Major Flood