Why Have More Than Half Of All Global Selfie Deaths Occurred In India?

Belief in reincarnation? Or casual approach to personal safety. JL

Gavin Haines reports in The Telegraph:

Globally there were 127 reported “selfie deaths” in the 18 months between March 2014 and September 2016. 76 of the 127 reported selfie deaths occurred in India. Police have become so concerned that they have stopped people taking photographs in what they deem dangerous locations.
Selfies: most people have taken them. Deep down we know they’re a bit narcissistic, but rarely do we consider them to be dangerous – or even fatal. 
However, a new study claims that globally there were 127 reported “selfie deaths” in the 18 months between March 2014 and September 2016. That’s not a huge number, but there’s something particularly tragic about composing – and sometimes capturing – your own death on a smartphone.

And it seems that some countries are riskier places to take selfies in than others. According to the study – titled Me, Myself and My Killfile: Characterizing and Preventing Selfie Deaths – India recorded the world’s highest number of selfie deaths, accounting for more than 60 per cent of reported fatalities.

Conducted by Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, US, and Indraprastha Institute of Information in Delhi, India, the study found that 76 of the 127 reported selfie deaths during that time occurred in India.
Mumbai seems to be particularly dangerous for people taking selfies. Only last month, a 17-year-old student drowned in the city after trying to take a photograph on the seafront. Priti Pise had been so concerned with capturing a selfie on her smartphone that she didn’t notice a massive wave, which crashed onto the promenade and carried her out to sea.
Similar fates have befallen 18-year-old Tarannum Ansari and 21-year-old Meenakshi Priya Rajesh, who drowned in separate incidents in Mumbai while taking selfies.
Police in the city have become so concerned about the number of selfie deaths that they have stopped people taking photographs in what they deem dangerous locations.
“We deploy bandobast [police protection] at selfie points when the tide is high,” Deputy Commissioner of Police, Paramjeet Dahiya, told The Times of India. “When the weather is rough, we request people not to go near the sea to take selfies. The personnel on bandobast are sufficiently briefed not to let people pull dangerous stunts.”

The 20 countries where selfie-related deaths have been reported

1. India - 76 casualties
2. Pakistan - 9
3. USA - 8
4. Russia - 6
5. Philippines - 4
6. China - 4
7. Spain - 3
8. Indonesia - 2
9. Portugal - 2
10. Peru - 2
11. Turkey - 2
12. Romania - 1
13. Australia - 1
14. Mexico - 1
15. South Africa - 1
16. Italy - 1
17. Serbia - 1
18. Chile - 1
19. Nepal - 1
20. Hong Kong - 1