India holds the rather absurd distinction of the most number of selfie deaths registered in a year with 25 in 2015. This particular photographic obsession has claimed the life of national-level athlete Pooja Kumari at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Bhopal. The 20-year old from Uttarakhand drowned in a pond, while attempting to take a ‘risky selfie’ as termed by the local Police.
A senior SAI Bhopal official said, “Pooja didn’t know how to swim at all, hence she couldn’t save herself. Both of her friends also didn’t know how to swim hence despite all their efforts they couldn’t save her in time. She fell off the ledge while bending down to take a selfie, but lost her balance. The pool was relatively deep, and she couldn’t climb out or grab onto her friends. Her friends came back to the hostel to get help from the hostel, but it was too late. We are deeply saddened by her demise and she was one of the top steeplechase runners in our setup. She won Madhya Pradesh state several times, and was targetting a senior national medal soon.”
According to local police, Pooja was clicking the selfie near the harvesting plant, beside the pond. Having joined SAI two years ago, she was quickly promoted to the SAI Centre of Excellence. During her time at the junior and sub-junior level, the girl from rural Uttarakhand also won the sub-junior national level gold in Delhi, a couple of years ago. However, she was out of the sport for clost to three months nursing an injury. The incident took place late Saturday evening, triggering a detailed investigation in the process.
The Bhopal Police is currently questioning authorites regarding the details of the drowning.
