Tourist Dies At The Taj Mahal After Falling While Taking A Selfie

A tourist reportedly died after falling down a staircase at the Taj Mahal while trying to take a selfie. 

The tourist, identified as Hideto Ueda, a 66-year-old Japanese national, was trying to snap a photo at the mausoleum's Royal Gate when he and a friend both fell, according to the BBC, which cited an eyewitness. 

The man lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead at a hospital while the friend suffered a fractured leg, the news agency reported. 

“He was rushed in an ambulance to the hospital but he could not be revived," Sushant Gaur, a police official in Agra, told AFP-Jiji. "A postmortem was carried out and the cause of death is heart attack. We have duly informed the Japanese Embassy about the unfortunate incident."

The quest for the perfect picture has led to a growing number of accidents and even deaths in recent years. 

In May, a teen in Romania was electrocuted during a selfie attempt atop a train. Last year, a man in Mexico accidentally shot himself in the head trying to take a selfie with a gun. Also last year, a driver died in a car accident that apparently happened while she was taking selfies and posting them to Facebook.

As a result, governments and other agencies have launched public information campaigns about the dangers of selfies. 

 

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