Selfies At Risky Places Become Nightmare For Many Tourists

Selfies at risky places become nightmare for many tourists

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News -24th Augst,2016) : The craze of taking selfies at risky places to upload on social media and getting popularity has become nightmare for many citizens, claiming their lives in a number of incidents. According to the experts "selfies have become an attention-seeking activity for youths trying to find self-esteem in the `likes' and comments on various social media platforms". A series of events were reported from across the country during previous few months including the recent incident of falling of glacier on three women tourists when they were posing for a selfie on their way to Saif-ul-Muluk lake. The weather experts have earlier warned the citizens not to go into deep waters for swimming excursion, disaster prone areas and hilly places due to risk of land sliding during the unstable weather. However the citizens were continuing their adventures of taking selfies at risky places just to get likes and appreciation on social media. "The hilly resorts, lakes, dams and river sides lack warning sign boards for the visitors which are very necessary to alert them especially during the unstable weather conditions ", said a mother whose son was drowned in Khanpur Dam few years ago. She said, usually youngsters in groups plan to visit the water resorts for the sake of adventure without knowing any precautions which sometime prove as life taking activity.

"Selfie craze at risky places can be a fatal activity for the visitors leaving their siblings in trauma for the whole life", she added. "There must be some mechanism to disseminate proper awareness among the people about the hazards of swimming and taking shower in the Dams, rivers and nullahs by the authorities to save them from any untoward incident. Talking to APP, Director General, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), Dr.

Ghulam Rasool said the met office has warned the citizens for several times to avoid taking shower and swimming in the rivers, nullahs and dams due to increasing water level. He said, "sometimes those taking shower in rivers consider that they are moving on big stones but they fell into deep ravine just beside the stones". According to the reports of the recent selfie death incidents, a women was drowned in Kunhar river while taking selfie along with her cousin who jumped to rescue her.

The similar incident occurred in the same river when a tourist family including wife, husband and their daughter also died while taking pictures.