Two young women in Bochum, Germany, about 100 kilometres north of Cologne, have been struck by lightning and sustained serious injuries while trying to take selfies in a thunderstorm.
According to local police, first responders found the women – aged 21 and 23 – on Sunday evening lying on the ground in torn clothing.
Paramedics resuscitated the 23-year-old, although she suffered life-threatening injuries and remains in intensive care. The 21-year-old was also hospitalised but her life is not thought to be at risk.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Bochum police spokesman Volker Schuette said that the pair were clearly “surprised by the storm“, and that the 21-year-old told police the last thing she remembers before lightning struck was walking with her friend on the footpath, while recording each other with their smartphones.
A study undertaken by Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, and the Indaprastha Institute of Information in Delhi released last year found that between March 2014 and September 2016, 127 people had reportedly died while taking selfies.
More than 60% of those reported fatalities occurred in India. Only one selfie-related death was reported to have taken place in Australia during the time period, while there were eight fatalities in the US.
Earlier this month, a 20-year-old international student fell to his death from tourist spot The Gap in Albany while trying to take a photograph on the rocks away from the viewing platform.
