Tragedy as teen ‘addicted’ to selfies dies while posing hanging from a roof | World | News
Andrey Retrovesky was addicted to taking selfies in dangerous places (Image: Instagram)
A teenager who repeatedly risked his life taking selfies in dangerous locations died after plummeting from the roof of a tower block.
Russian Andrey Retrovesky, 17, routinely endangered himself by scaling tall buildings and structures to capture striking photographs for his Instagram account.
The youngster’s exploits included dangling from apartment block ledges and balancing on the edge of metal scaffolding.
The tragic incident occurred in the city of Vologda, where Andrey ascended to the roof of a nine-storey building with a companion in September 2015.
The duo were attempting to capture an image that would create the illusion of Andrey tumbling from the rooftop.
Andrey Retrovesky died while posing for the extreme shot (Image: Instagram)
During the stunt, the rope designed to anchor him to the building gave way, sending him crashing to the ground below.
Whilst bushes were reported to have cushioned his fall, local Russian media stated at the time that Andrey sustained severe injuries and passed away in hospital approximately two hours afterwards.
In a separate incident last September, Elizaveta ‘Liza’ Gushchina, 45, was celebrating an adrenaline-fuelled birthday after leaping and swinging from the tower with “elastic rope” in Pavlovsk, near St Petersburg.
However, minutes following her successful activity, the mother wished to “take a selfie as a keepsake”, which proved fatal, reports the Mirror.
The extreme sports fan “slipped and fell” before her 23-year-old son, Nikita. Rope-jumping firm 23block, which runs the former boiler tower, said: “In tragic circumstances, experienced jumper and mother-of-two children Liza has passed away.
“Elizaveta Gushchina, along with her son Nikita, was a member of our sports team. Now the whole team is mourning her loss. This is a very big tragedy for us.”
During that same month, a mountaineer plunged to his death whilst attempting to capture a selfie during an expedition on a Chinese mountain.
The 31-year-old man was amongst a hiking party at Mount Nama in Sichuan and, according to reports at the time, was only identified as Mr Hong.
He lost his footing near a crevasse after allegedly unfastening his safety rope to photograph the snowy summit. Witnesses reported he was not utilising an ice axe and could not regain his balance as he plummeted 200 metres (650ft) down the mountainside whilst the other hikers looked on helplessly.
Video footage circulated on social media captures the moment he toppled over the snow and tumbled down the 5,588-metre peak. Emergency services arrived at the location, but the victim was tragically declared dead at the scene.
