Tragic love story: Woman falls to her death while taking selfie on first date
James Nichols is offering £300 (S$630) for a rock that was stolen from his car.
Why so much? Because it was chosen by his late girlfriend, who fell to her death while taking a selfie with him on a cliff on their first date.
The couple had been in a long-distance relationship.
In January, Mr Nichols flew from the UK to South Africa to meet Miss Cheynne Holloway in person.
The pair visited Northcliff Hill, the second highest point in the city of Johannesburg.
They stopped to take a selfie against the backdrop of the setting sun.
The fatal fall
According to a witness, Miss Holloway, 21, was standing on a large rock near the cliff top while Mr Nichols, 23, a portrait photographer, set up a tripod.
The rock gave way and Miss Holloway fell about 15m onto a pathway.
Mr Nichols rushed down and performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation for 20 minutes until paramedics arrived.
Miss Holloway, a bassist in a band called Burning Blue, was declared dead at the scene.
The special rock
Days after her death, a heartbroken Mr Nichols visited the city’s Botanical Gardens to retrieve a special rock from a pile of stones.
Miss Holloway had filmed herself putting the rock there and had told him that they would retrieve it together when he came to visit her in South Africa.
He took the rock back with him to the UK.
The theft
Two weeks ago, he decided to take it along with him on a hiking trip.
But thieves smashed his car window and emptied the rucksack he had kept it in.
Mr Nichols said: "Whoever has took it obviously won’t have realised and have probably just thrown it. But it’s so important to me and it can’t be replaced.
"After Cheynee died, I made it my mission to find it and to find the exact rock she left like that and bring it back to England was unbelievable. (sic)"
He added: "I had the rock with me as I was going hiking in the Lake District so decided to bring it with me, as if I was bringing a piece of her with me on my adventure."
Sources: Mirror, Mail Online, Manchester Evening News
Other tragic accidents involving selfies:
#1: A Polish couple reportedly fell to their deaths in August last year while trying to snap a selfie at the edge of a cliff in Portugal. Their two young children witnessed the fall.
#2: A 21-year-old from Mexico City borrowed a gun and posed with it for a selfie last year. He did not know that the gun was loaded. It accidently went off and killed him.
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