taking selfies from obscure and dangerous locations has become a social media craze

From Cosmopolitan

According to the BBC, a 12-year-old Russian girl, solely identified as Oksana B, fell to her death after taking a picture of herself sitting on the railing of a seventeenth-story balcony. She allegedly sent the photo to a friend right before falling.

The news organization reports Oksana’s friend noticed the picture was taken from a “risky location” and sent it to the girl’s mother after Oksana didn’t answer her texts, but by that time, the person who allegedly first spotted Oksana’s body on the ground below the building had called the police. Oksana reportedly had told her mother she was going to take a walk when she went up to the balcony.

Police have not confirmed Oksana was taking a selfie before she died or that taking the picture was what caused her to lose her balance and fall to her death, but the BBC reports the alleged photo has not yet been released.

In recent years, taking selfies from obscure and dangerous locations has become a social media craze with people all over the world posting their daring photos online.
And after a number of selfie-related deaths in Russia last year, the Russian government launched an advice campaign outlining when not to take them.



Oksana's uncle has since posted on social media saying: "She was such a friendly girl. She was a good pupil, she had no problems at school. She took dance classes and English classes.
"She had so much to live for and now she has lost her life to the craze of looking to do extreme selfies for social media.
"There can be no other reason why she climbed over the damned handrail."
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