A 17-year-old Russian teenager has died after falling from the roof of a nine-storey building while attempting to take an 'extreme selfie'. Andrey Retrovesky, from Vologda, regularly risked his life by climbing tall structures to capture dramatic photos for his Instagram page.
On the day of the incident in September 2015, Andrey and a friend climbed onto the roof of a high-rise building. They were trying to take a photo that would make it appear as though Andrey was falling. However, the rope securing him failed, causing him to plunge to the ground. Although bushes broke his fall, he suffered extensive injuries and died in hospital around two hours later, according to local Russian media.
In a separate incident, 45-year-old Elizaveta 'Liza' Gushchina died after slipping and falling while attempting to take a selfie following a rope-jumping activity in Pavlovsk, near St Petersburg. The mother-of-two had just completed a jump from a tower and wanted a keepsake photo. Her 23-year-old son Nikita witnessed the fall. Rope-jumping company 23block expressed their grief, calling it a 'very big tragedy'.
Also in the same month, a 31-year-old mountaineer fell 200 metres to his death while trying to take a selfie on Mount Nama in China's Sichuan province. The man, identified only as Mr Hong, had undone his safety rope to take photos on the snowy peak. Witnesses said he slipped near a crevasse and could not regain control as he tumbled down the 5,588-metre mountain. Emergency services pronounced him dead at the scene.
