Selfie craze proves fatal, youth falls to death in Odisha’s Kanakund waterfall

The craze for clicking selfies has often landed many in trouble, at times even causing death. Somesh Mallick of Rourkela Sector-14 never would have imagined that this fascination for a selfie would one day take his life.

Mallick, along with three of his friends, had gone to the famous Kanakund picnic spot near Ghoghar under Talsara police limits in Sundargarh district.

They were enjoying their time clicking selfies and groupfies. Out of excitement, Somesh climbed over one of the rocks to take a selfie. However, he lost balance and fell into the river flowing through the area, sources said.

His friends and other tourists launched a frantic search, but to no avail. On being informed, a team of fire personnel rushed to the spot for search operation. Till filing of this report, search was still underway.

This isn’t the first such tragic incident at the famous picnic spot in Kanakund. The waterfall attracts huge number of tourists every year and is prone to such mishaps.

Last year, a video of a young girl falling into the river while taking selfie on the riverine rocks had gone viral. She was standing on a stone in the riverbed while trying to click selfies in various postures when she slipped and fell into the river.

Despite repeated such incidents, the administration has failed to put a check on the risky movements of tourists. Identifying danger zones and preventing tourists from going there would go to a great extent in reducing the number of accidental deaths in the grand canyon of Odisha, locals said.