This day in history: Alexander 'Sasha' Chechik sent his friend a photo of a grenade with a pin pulled out while chatting on the Russian social media service VK on this day in 2017. He died shortly after sending the photo as the grenade in his hand exploded. Police ruled the incident as an accident instead of a suicide.
Also, "two Russian soldiers in the Urals region west of Siberia were posing for a selfie with a live grenade. The handheld explosive detonated unexpectedly and, going off in their faces. Only the phone with the photo survived. Russia in particular has seen an alarming number of selfie-related deaths, becoming such a problem that the government launched a safety campaign, urging people to use caution while taking selfies." Source
A 2018 study of news reports showed that there were 259 selfie deaths in 137 incidents reported globally between October 2011 and November 2017, with the highest occurrences in India, followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan. The mean age was 23 years old, with male deaths outnumbering female about three to one.
One such incident happened in North Carolina in April 2014 when a 32-year-old woman from North Carolina was driving and veered her vehicle across the center median. Her vehicle collided with a recycling truck, left the road, hit a tree, and burst into flames – moments after posting selfies online when she heard Pharrell Williams' song "Happy".
On January 21 2015, a man in Kalama, Washington, stepped out onto a railroad track to take a selfie with himself and a woman with a passing train in the background. The man misjudged which track the oncoming train was on and was struck and died at the scene.
On March 2015, Seven youths drowned while taking selfies on Mangrul Lake near Kuhi, about 12 miles from Nagpur, India. Their boat had tipped over as they were standing up to pose.
In 2015, a man was fatally struck by lightning at Brecon Beacons (UK) supposedly due to the selfie stick he had attracting the bolt.
On August 9, 2015, a man was gored to death in the annual bull-running festival in the town of Villaseca de la Sagra while trying to take a selfie with a bull.
On January 8, 2018, in Zagreb, Croatia, a 14-year-old boy climbed onto the roof of a train cargo wagon where he wanted to take a selfie. He was electrocuted and his body "burned like a torch." Firefighters were unable to take action until the train's power was turned off.
On July 25, 2017, a 30-year-old man sneaked into the Bannerghatta Biological Park near Bangalore, India, with friends to take selfies with an elephant that later trampled him to death.
On June 29, 2016, a 51-year-old German tourist visiting Machu Picchu in Peru, fell 130 feet to his death after he lost his footing while leaping into the air for a "flying selfie".
In 2016, a Chinese businessman, at a local wildlife park in the city of Rongcheng, Shandong province, was drowned by a walrus after taking several selfies and videos with the animal. A zookeeper was also drowned in the same incident after attempting to save the man.
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