In MP, newly-wed woman killed while posing for selfie on a bridge over Narmada

In a tragic turn of events, a young newly-married woman lost her life while she was posing for a selfie on a bridge over Narmada in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday. The victim has been identified as one Rupali, who was on her way back home after celebrating Rakshabandhan at her brother’s place, when the incident took place. According to onlookers, the woman lost her balance due to strong gust of wind and drowned in the river.

News Nation has learnt that Rupali and her husband Rahul were returning to their home, when the woman got down to offer her prayer to the mythical river Goddess. Later, she posed for a selfie, and before anybody could realise, she lost her balance and drowned in the river. Shocked, ger husband couldn’t react or do anything but to watch helplessly as the wife drowned. Rahul and Rupali and got married in March this year. 

Researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences last year found that about half of the 259 reported selfie deaths and accidents between 2011 and 2017 occurred in India.

While women take the most selfies, young men, who are more prone to take risks, make up three quarters of the selfie deaths -- in drownings, crashes, falls or shooting accidents.

India, with a population of more than 1.3 billion and 800 million cell phones, holds the record for the number of people dying in the act of photographing themselves, with 159 recorded so far.

The situation has become so dire that India has set up "no selfie" zones -- 16 of them in the city of Mumbai alone. The country came in far ahead of Russia (16 deaths), the United States (14) and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, four people, including a woman and her daughter, drowned in Mandsaur and Betul districts of Madhya Pradesh as around 3,000 people were shifted following heavy rains and floods. Almost the entire state is receiving rains, and some areas are expected to have "very heavy to extremely heavy" rain, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned. The rains have sent rivers and nullahs into spate and inundated low-lying areas in the state.