Dying for the perfect picture

HUNDREDS of people around the world are killed while trying to take selfies.

There were at least 259 people who died this way between October 2011 and November 2017, research from the Indian Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care has revealed.

But the report warned that the number is just the tip of a selfie iceberg.

Researchers conducted the analysis by Googling key search phrases such as: selfie deaths, selfie accidents, selfie mortality and collating records of news reports.

Therefore, reports made in languages other than English will have been missed so the true number of selfie deaths is likely much higher.

It is important to note that selfies are never reported as an official cause of death.

For example, people who are killed in road collisions while taking a selfie will have their death recorded as being caused by a traffic accident.

While selfies might be considered as more of a phenomenon associated with females, men accounted for a far higher proportion of deaths.

Where the victims’ sex was known, nearly three-quarters (72.5%) were male while the remaining 27.5% were female.

The report explained that men were more likely to engage in risky behaviour in order to capture the perfect selfie which is why they account for a higher proportion of the deaths.

Nearly half (106) of the deaths had victims aged between 20 and 29 years old.

The next most common age range to die while trying to get the perfect picture was children aged between 10 and 19 with 76 deaths recorded over the period.

The data revealed that 70 people died by drowning while trying to take a selfie. This includes people who were washed away by waves, those whose boats capsized as well as those who tried to take a picture in water despite not knowing how to swim.

A further 51 deaths were recorded as transport accidents, followed by the 48 deaths in falls and 48 deaths in fires.