Woman Falls Off Waterfall to Her Death While Retrieving Camera Tripod
A woman fell to her death off a waterfall as she tried to retrieve her camera tripod after it dropped over a ledge.
Aspiring doctor Ujvala Vemuru plunged 66 feet (20 meters) to her death in Yanbacoochie Falls in Lamington National Park, Australia this weekend.
Yanbacoochie Falls tragedy: Hiker falls to her death in Lamington National Park https://t.co/N1axoXTCkr pic.twitter.com/pl7F75lYhg
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) March 3, 2024
According to news.com.au, Vemuru, who was in her 20s, had been hiking with friends in Yanbacoochie Falls on Saturday afternoon — when the group stopped to take photos near the waterfall using the camera tripod.
The news outlet reports that Vemuru’s camera tripod fell over a ledge.
As Vemuru attempted to retrieve the tripod, she slipped and fell 33 feet (10 meters) down a slope. She then plunged a further 33 feet off a waterfall.
According to the Mail Online, it took rescue crews over six hours to recover the Australian medical student’s body.
“Her friends tried calling out to her but couldn’t get a response,” a Queensland Police spokesperson says in a statement.
A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokesperson tells the Mail Online that it took some time for multiple emergency crews to locate the woman and carry out a risk assessment.
Emergency responders then spent six-and-a-half hours retrieving the body using vertical rescue equipment. Doctors worked tirelessly to save Ms Vemuru but she tragically died at the scene.
The incident has prompted authorities to issue a cautionary advisory to bushwalkers, urging them to remain on marked tracks while visiting the national park.
According to recent research, selfie-related deaths constitute a new public health risk — with the most common deaths coming about from people falling off cliffs and waterfalls while taking a photo.
In a paper published last year, researchers found that selfie-related injury and deaths have become a public health concern amid the near ubiquitous use of smartphones and social media apps.
The paper scraped news reports of selfie-related deaths as well as a cross-sectional study by the iO Foundation that found 379 people were killed while taking selfies around the world between January 2008 and July 2021.
The researchers identified falls from height as the most common type of selfie-related injury. They said that tourists were most at risk, with the most common cause of death being falling from cliffs or waterfalls while attempting to take a selfie.
Image credits: Facebook.
