Photographer's line
Scientists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences investigated reports of deaths of people taking photos with the front camera on smartphones. The problem occurred over a decade ago. The analysis of the cases recorded so far shows that The most common cause of death when taking selfies is drowning.
Second place goes to accidents involving vehicles and means of transport, as in the case of people taking photos in front of a passing train. Third place in the ranking is falling from great heights, followed by wild animals, the use of weapons and electric shock.
The head of the research team, Agam Bansal, said in an interview with the Washington Post that “deaths caused by taking selfies have become a serious public health problem.” The researcher emphasized that taking a selfie itself is not dangerous. The only danger comes from risky behavior when posing.
How many selfie-related deaths were recorded between 2009 and 2022?
What are the most common causes of death while taking selfies?
What places are the most dangerous for people taking selfies?
What did the head of the research team say about the dangers of selfies?
Capturing a “perfect” life and posting it online has become more important than experiencing a given moment here and now with your own senses. Some people watch their entire life on a smartphone screen because they record it over and over again.
Recently, the world was informed about the tragedy in the Swiss town of Crans-Montana. On New Year's Eve, 40 people lost their lives and 120 were injured in a fire. “The premises turned out to be a death trap in which young people burned alive or suffocated with smoke. Escape was difficult due to the narrow stairs and passage,” wrote Swiss media.
The case is extreme. Basic safety rules were not followed, and issues related to construction supervision and fire control during the opening of the club are questionable. Numerous irregularities pointed out by the local community are now coming to light. According to investigators, the direct cause of the fire was sparks from sparklers mounted on champagne bottles that were raised too close to the ceiling.
The media reported that it was finished with insulating foam, most likely to soundproof the room. The French Moretti couple, the owners of the premises, arouse suspicion. Jacques Moretti was to serve a prison sentence in 2005 and 2008. Sources close to the case also claim that the man was involved in several other criminal cases related to financial fraud.
However, it is also significant what Bogusław Chrabota writes about in “Rzeczpospolita” – that some people celebrating the New Year in the club she focused on filming the fire rather than running away when the ceiling began to burn: “At first, everyone grabbed their cell phones: something extraordinary is happening, so you have to film it and post it on Instagram. No one thought about the scale of risk involved in such behavior. They were unaware that the fire was taking place in the real world, not the virtual one, and the flames would soon start to really burn and kill. In the case of many very young people in the Le Constellation bar, they were unable to distinguish an Internet virus from a real threat to their lives. ended in death.”
Sounds brutal? Let's hold back for a moment any outrage that the editor wrote something inconvenient for the victims of the tragedy. We probably agree with the statement that if you see a fire and don't have a fire extinguisher at hand, you should run away. Common sense has truly been superseded by the reflex to reach for the phone.
Let's take the situation from stage 15 of the Tour de France in 2023. One of the spectators wanted to take a selfie with the passing cyclists and hit the steering wheel of the American rider. As a result, there was a collision involving 20 cyclists. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, but the event disrupted the race in an unprecedented way.
Beautiful (un)life
Research conducted by the Spanish iO foundation shows that most cases of deadly selfies have so far occurred in India (100), the United States (39) and Russia (33). Most selfie-related deaths worldwide were caused by tourists (32%), not locals. According to the findings of the team of Dr. Agama Bansal, most of the victims are in the age group of 19-23 and they are more often men.
The authors of the report for the iO foundation also collected data on the subject The 10 deadliest places on Earth for selfie hunters. These figures were not included in the final report but are, in no particular order of death toll: Niagara Falls (US/Canada), Glen Canyon (US), Charco del Burro (Colombia), Penha Beach (Brazil), Mlango Falls (Kenya), Ural Mountains (Russia), Taj Mahal and Doodhpathri Valley (India), Nusa Lembongan Island (Indonesia) and the Langkawi Archipelago (Malaysia).
Niagara FallsABACA / PAP
In “El País”, psychiatrist Enrique García Bernardo, who refers to the iO report, states that the increase in deaths due to selfies is part of the global influence of social media on the population: “These photos have become a quick way to obtain immediate, easy and superficial recognition. What counts are followers and likes, not the achievement itself. It is a social mechanism of reaffirmation that has become more common in recent years. Taking this into account, some people are more willing to risky behavior.”
A killer sight
Most deaths due to the desire to take the perfect photo are spectacular, but a few outshine the rest. Alexander Chechnik, a Russian from Łabinsk, sent several friends a photo of him holding an unlocked grenade with the pin lying next to it. Concerned friends started writing and calling Czecznik. Unsuccessfully. The grenade exploded and the man died on the spot. According to the local police, this death was a manifestation of bravado. The man probably incorrectly assumed that the grenade would not explode until it was thrown.
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Chechnik's compatriot, 17-year-old Xenia Ignatieva, fell from a several-meter-high bridge, which she climbed without any protection. She managed to get in and even take a photo! She only tripped when she was getting off him. Israeli Tomer Frankfurter fell almost 200 meters in Yosemite National Park while trying to take a selfie next to Nevada Falls.
There is also no shortage of Polish threads. A couple vacationing in Portugal came up with a brilliant idea. They fell off a cliff on Cape Cabo da Roca, taking a souvenir photo, blown away by a gust of wind. What's worse, the couple took photos in the presence of their several-year-old children.
A 21-year-old from Gdańsk decided to take a photo on the roof of the train. He died just after climbing onto the wagon when he accidentally touched electrical wires. Another Pole, on his way to an AC/DC concert at the National Stadium in Warsaw, fell into the Vistula River from the Świętokrzyski Bridge while trying to take a spectacular photo. At the beginning of September 2025, three tourists in the Tatra Mountains climbed the cross on Giewont. Let us mention that the structure is 17.5 m high. The men were not hurt, but they showed their thoughtlessness.
Some places besieged by selfie fans have started to impose photography bans or establish entire selfie-free zones. They are created, among others: in national parks in the USA, on the edges of famous cliffs or on unstable ground. The first zones began to appear in India, where the largest number of selfie accidents occurred. Japan's JR West Railway Company has banned the use of selfie sticks on platforms. A similar ban was introduced by Disneyland in 2015. In 2023, Portofino introduced a temporary ban on selfies in designated places. The fine for breaking the ban was the equivalent of PLN 1,300. zloty. In Pamplona, it is illegal to take selfies during the annual running of the bulls. As you can guess, participating in Encierro with a phone in hand must have resulted in several deaths.
A few minutes of applause really isn't worth your life. Especially since after death we won't even know how many likes we collected for maybe not the best, but definitely the last selfie in our lives.
