Stunt for photo on Indonesian island ends in 40m fall, hours waiting for rescue
It’s the curse of instant photography once again.
Since we started walking around with high-quality phone cameras in our pockets, numerous people have ended up severely injured or dead all over the world trying to get crazy shots, usually to be shared on social media.
Last month, someone fell off a cliff on the Indonesian island of Nusa Penida, reportedly while doing a somersault for a photo.
The man, identified only as AK, a Vietnamese-Indonesian tourist from Sulawesi, fell 40m onto a rocky beach.
He suffered multiple fractures in the fall, which happened around 9.30am on Nov 21.
But rescuers couldn’t evacuate him till after 3pm.
Local police have been quoted as saying that a high tide hampered initial rescue efforts.
The spectacularly scenic island is less than an hour by boat from Bali.
A TikTok user named saltyseadawg, who says she was there at the time, has used the incident as a cautionary tale. And not just against doing ridiculous stunts for photos.
“Be careful when you’re in a Third World country,” she says, “because things like this happen all the time and they’re never reported about.”
Some of those commenting on her post felt this could happen anywhere and rescuers can’t always arrive quickly, while others felt facilities in the area were indeed wanting.
Of course quite a few just blamed the unfortunate man.
And saltyseadawg did get something wrong. The incident was indeed reported, by local news outlets in Bahasa Indonesia the same day, and by Coconuts Bali on Nov 22.
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