Philip Carroll, 23, of Maryland was hiking with family members on a forbidden trail up the notorious Mount Vesuvius/At the 4,000-foot summit he stopped to take a selfie to memorialize his achievement/Carroll lost his grip on his cellphone and it landed a few meters inside the lip of the crater....
'He tried to recover it, but slipped and slid a few meters into the crater. He managed to stop his fall, but at that point he was stuck.... He was very lucky. If he kept going, he would have plunged 300 meters into the crater.'...
There's something very grand about Vesuvius, and he didn't die, so we hear about it. But how many people a year die from falling while trying to "memorialize the achievement" of climbing to some high position by taking a selfie?
I think the typical selfie death fall involves turning your back to the edge of a precipice and then taking a step backward or leaning or posing and losing balance. But this was a case of dropping the phone and grabbing at it. Mega-stupid. But he doesn't even get a Darwin Award!
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74 comments:
" how many people a year die from falling while trying to "memorialize the achievement" of climbing to some high position by taking a selfie?"
Too many; or not enough. It depends on your point of view.
A forbidden trail. There is a reason for that. He is lucky, but they should be charged with trespassing. Stupid people do stupid things.
But how many people a year die from falling while trying to "memorialize the achievement" of climbing to some high position by taking a selfie?I
Self-abortion.
Maybe he only qualifies for a Darwin participation trophy?
When I read about this the other day, before I knew they were Americans, I knew they were Americans.
I'm so proud.
His body's burnin' like a lava from a Mauna Loa
His phone’s crackin' like a Krakatoa
Krakatoa, east of Java, molten bodies, fiery lava
"Horrific injuries"? Looks more like a bad sunburn. But, people gotta sell newspapers. Or page views or whatever.
Those injuries don't look very "horrific" to me.
Men who take selfies should be thrown into Vesuvius. This used to be commonly accepted folk wisdom.
There is something about these phones that mesmerize people into thinking that they provide a safety bubble. I see it all on the time on the road. People making a left-hand turn into oncoming traffic while they stare at their lap. That kind of thing.
When I see the words US tourist and selfie in a sentence I know I am about to be embarrassed..
"grabbing" at something which has just fallen is a reflex, not a thoughtful decision.
In Yellowstone some years back, saw posters about not taking selfies with buffalo.
"Horrific injuries"
Minor injuries the extent of horrigic injuries.
forbidden trails are TIGHT!
It apparently has been a thing for a long time. “Pride goeth before destruction, a haughty spirit before the fall” Proverbs 16:18
Clickbait headline. Those are far from horrific injuries. Most avid cyclists probably have better road rash photos than those.
Forbidden path. That's an invitation to an American.
"Horrific injuries"!
The guy got road-rash injuries of the sort bikers get all the time when they take a fall on their bikes. More "big boo-boo" than horrific injuries.
I was expecting some real gore based on the headline, plus the fact this was happening at the summit of an active volcano. I was picturing Doctor Evil (not Doctor Jill) rubbing his hands together in glee. But, no.
Click bait!
If the worst injury you'd ever seen was a paper cut, you might think this guy's injuries are "horrific."
"Carroll was arrested by the Carabinieri police, the guide told NBC, but he did not know what the charges were."
gross incompetence
"Horrific injuries"?
There was a video a few years ago on LiveLeak of some fool who decided to do chinups off the edge of a skyscraper (I think in China but am unsure). He did 10 or 20 or so quite impressively, but then was unable to leverage himself back upon the ledge. He hung there for a few minutes struggling before falling to his death.
Horrific Injuries from sliding a few meters? Based on the pictures, not really.
Chlorinating the gene pool.
If you'd Just get.. a Little closer; this pic would be AWESOME!!!
i have to admit, this is The First Time i've heard;
about someone that dropped their phone into a volcano, and then fell in after, trying to get it out
I understand of course what a selfie is but the concept is foreign to me. I cannot imagine feeling compelled to take a selfie. There is personality weirdness implicit in it that I simply don't possess (I have enough other flaws...).
There are known fatalities from taking selfies and trying to get famous through dangerous stunts. However, it probably pales in comparison to distracted driving accidents with people fiddling with their phones.
As for the Darwin Award, that is dependent on the list of horrific injuries. Darwin Awards include persons who removed themselves from the gene pool without requiring a funeral.
"Horrific" injuries??!
Whoever wrote that description of that guy's unremarkable "road rash" never fell off a bike at full speed or crashed on a skateboard when he was a kid.
Back in 1979 I was in Sicily with the USN when Etna burped and some German tourists.Volcanoes are not safe.As they used to say "you pays youse,money you takes youse chances."
Those "horrific injuries" look pretty superficial. I wouldn't even bother with medical attention. Just hit the drugstore for some band aids. And given the stupidity of the accident, I'd keep the whole thing to myself.
what about all moments that go unmemorialized.
If you think about all the special moments that aren't captured, those are more meaningful.
Memory is more valuable than photo. --And safer.
There is no Darwin Award for second place.
I once saw a person being immortalized in pixels as she cavorted about a national park site. She climbed atop a sign for one set of pictures, and the urge to give her a little push was almost irresistible. Why is that?
Darwin Award “winners” usually means they are unable to reproduce (death, emasculation, etc) and impose their presumably deficient offspring on society
I wouldn't call those injuries "horrific".
If he'd had an arm or leg burned off in lava, or something similar, that would be horrific.
Horrific?
eh - If he lost whole limbs in the lava - that might be horrific. He looks like a fat tourist who fell down. Bummer - but with risk comes consequence.
The guy's got a nasty abrasion on his back, but it's a long way from being "horrific."
You don't have to spend much time reading the Daily Mail to wonder if it's got any copyeditors at all.
In Chicago, a young lady dropped her cell into the river, onto the ice. She insisted on going down to get it. She broke through ice. 2 of her 3 friends came down to help and all 3 died. There are lots and lots of selfie-deaths. Lots more than shark deaths. Darwin.
Glad he was arrested.
He didn't grab at the phone. It dropped to the ground and he went to get it like anything else, his glasses or keys or wallet. It's interesting that the word "selfie" does not appear in the body of the article, the actual reporting, but only in the editorially controlled headline, bullet summary and photo captions. No one really knows if it was a selfie or a 'regular' picture but everyone knows about clickbait. "Man slips on rocks!" is the story here because even the volcanic location is irrelevant. He didn't fall into lava, no noxious gasses, nothing exploded. Doesn't matter if the looming threat was there, a 300ft fall into a pile of honking geese would kill you just as well.
At least it had a Plural in the Headline!
That feeling, halfway through a hike.
The ride up to the hike in point in the Russian made military style people carrier driven by a non descript Eastern Euro driver was more frightening/thrillingp than final 3000' climb to the rim by foot.
Not horrible. Routine cuts and abrasions.
#$%&@! sensationalist headlines.
When someone says "Horrible injuries" and "Mount Vesuvius" in the same sentence, I expect pictures of Anakin Skywalker from the end of Episode III, not "I had a kinda bad mountain biking accident."
His injuries are mild, not life threatening. He has more problems with his judgement than his back.
I have been to Pompeii, but my oddest Vesuvius story happened in January 2021. Amazon Music recommended the David Gilmour album ‘Live In Pompeii.’ It was the first concert with an audience at the Pompeii Amphitheater since Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. The album was 2-1/2 hours long and was still playing when I left work. I continued to listen as I drove home, stopping off at Culver’s for lunch along the way. It was as COVID days, so only the drive-through was open. My order number? 79! And it was 79 degrees outside as well (Florida). Very odd indeed!
No gadget is worth your life or your health
Once while camping at Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania, I dropped my big Swiss Army Knife down the latrine. I not only didn't dive in after it, I didn't even bother looking if I could see it.
#notthathorrific
A fall like that is newsworthy only if it occurs in one of three places: Vesuvius, the Grand Canyon, or Mauna Loa. A fall like that on the Appalachian Trail? Or, in Monument Valley? Or, down the stairs of the subway? No one would care.
Still, glad he's not dead.
“Ow my ballz!”
Bob Boyd said: If the worst injury you'd ever seen was a paper cut, you might think this guy's injuries are "horrific."
I've been reading the Aubrey-Maturin series (Master & Commander, etc.), and characters talk about lopping off mangled limbs after battle like they were fixing a bad cut. I wonder how accurate the author is about the mentality both of the surgeons and patients in those circumstances. Would have taken a quart of laudanum to get me to face that ordeal with any kind of equanimity.
As Lopez says, not horrific. I do worse to myself at least once a year without the aid of a famous volcano, or the local vino.
Sometimes the universe won't ask you to pay full price for your mistakes.
has anyone in China yet created low-tech lanyard [retractable] for hi-tech phones?
"Robert Cook said...
Those injuries don't look very "horrific" to me."
OMG I agree with Cookie!
I'm sure the Daily Mail doesn't really think they were horrific. They do KNOW that the "horrific photos" will get more clicks than "minor injuries."
WNYer said...
Darwin Award “winners” usually means they are unable to reproduce (death, emasculation, etc) and impose their presumably deficient offspring on society
==========
Planned Parenthood have been authorized / subsidized to award those for 50+ years
Proof of previous comment is in the url: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11012501/PICTURED-Badly-bruised-American-tourist-toppled-Mt-Vesuvius-trying-retrieve-cell.html
PICTURED: Horrific injuries of vain and pompous US POTUS 79, who toppled onto fiery Delaware pavement as he tried to pull his toe out of toeclip thingy when it clipped his toe too tightly
Memories
Seared upon the slowness of my mind
Memories
Scars are on my backside like port wine
Smoke and ash come floating down and settle softly to the ground
Like barbecue briquettes around my feet
WayBack Machine... There's only one soap can get that man clean... LAVA!
has anyone in China yet created low-tech lanyard [retractable] for hi-tech phones?
@Narayanan, I was just thinking that the next iPhone release needs a strong loop to which a lanyard can be attached.
I guess nobody clicked on Not So Bad Scuffle Mark
You could try He Had a Fight With a Volcano and Lost
Or iPhone Injuries: Bloody But He's Okay
Or maybe Did the Holy Spirit Smite Darwin and Save This 23-Year-Old?
My personal favorite volcano is Great Sitkin
John LGBTQBNY Henry
Wait to you see all the calamities captured on GoPros.
I have one myself. Go to Youtube and type in Whiteout and deployment.
I don't understand the relevance of this part:
"Philip Carroll, 23, of Maryland was hiking with family members on a forbidden trail up the notorious Mount Vesuvius"
Once you climb up the regular trail to the rim of the crater, there is a trail all the way around the perimeter of the crater. The tourist likely went past the barriers between the summit loop and the crater. How he got to the summit loop is immaterial.
Selfies.
The universe is everlasting.
The reason the universe is everlasting is that it does not live for Self.
Therefore it can long endure.
Therefor the Sage puts himself last, and finds himself in the foremost place;
Regards his body as accidental, and his body is thereby preserved.
Is it not because he does not live for self that his self is realized?
Tao Te Ching, Chapt 7; trx by Lin Yutan
The Daily Wail is much of the time amusing: the balance between 'serious' articles and the exploitative ones illustrated by semi-naked photographs tilts just enough to keep one alert. The NYT should take a lesson.
But this was a case of dropping the phone and grabbing at it. Mega-stupid.
Reflexive. Common to try and catch a dropped knife.
Why oh why is it always a "horrific" whatever. When I see that word in a headline, I know its clickbait!
Go to Youtube and type in Whiteout and deployment.
Thanks! Fascinating and nerve-wracking and scary all at the same time. I went up in a hang-glider once. Once. These days, when the sign says, don't pass, I don't pass, Vesuvius or no Vesuvius.
it true that if an American actually jumps into the crater, it will cleave the Universe on to another path and then there will be a new Sopranos season?
If so, I say that would be worth it. RIP, whoever you are.
"When I read about this the other day, before I knew they were Americans, I knew they were Americans."
I knew they were from Maryland.
He squandered his 15 minutes of fame.
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