We all know what a selfie is, but we didn’t really know just how dangerous it could be. We’ve heard of some people dying while attempting to take a selfie but we had no idea that so many others have met their deaths doing the same thing.
Turkish clinicians Dr. Mehmet Dokur, Emine Petekkaya, Ph.D., and Mehmet Karada, Ph.D. conducted a survey of media-reported “selfie-related deaths” all over the world from December 2013 to January 2017. The survey was published in the Turkish Journal of Trauma and Emergency Surgery.
In the introduction of their paper — titled “Media-based clinical research on selfie-related injuries and deaths” — they cited a 2014 social survey conducted by TIME magazine, which ranked “The Selfiest Cities in the World.” Two of our 459 cities, Makati City and Pasig City, were ranked at No. 1 with 258 selfie-takers per 100,000 people.
The study’s authors revealed: “Among the 111 events or accidents examined, we determined that the total case (dead and injured) number was 159, the average age was 23.36 to 10.1 years, the number of dead people was 137, and the number of injured people was 22.”
They then ranked the first three countries in terms the frequency of selfie-related deaths. They listed the following:
1. India (45 events or accidents, with 75 victims),
2. US (10 events or accidents with 11 victims)
3. Russia (8 events or accidents with 10 victims)
It is worth nothing that Pakistan was ranked No. 4 with 6 events or accidents and the Philippines was ranked No. 5 with 5 events or accidents.
As for the causes of the selfie-related deaths, they are listed below along with the number of their casualties:
1. Drowning — 57
2. Falling — 27
3. Crushed by train — 18
4. Gunshot — 8
5. Electrocution — 7
6. Truck collision — 6
7. Animal Attack — 4
8. Explosion — 3
9. Motorcycle collision — 1
10. Hot water burns – 1
