The london- based Daily Telegraph reported that 2015 saw more people dying while taking selfies than those killed by sharks. In tune with the world trend, Haridwar too is seeing selfie-related deaths following one another at regular intervals. The latest of the fatal happenings occurred on Monday as a 20-year-old girl, about to appear in class 12 exam, seems to have met her watery grave in the Ganga while taking selfie. Her body remained untraced till Tuesday evening. The girl has been identified as Salma, a resident of district Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. According to the police, she had come to Dehradun with her family. While on their way back to Rampur, they had chosen to spend some hours in Haridwar for sight- seeing. The girl had lost her balance and slipped off the iron bars of Hathi bridge while taking selfie. She had fallen straight into the gushing Ganga. Her family members had screamed for help as she was found getting swept away by the mighty currents of the river. "Police divers have been trying to fish out her body since Monday, but it is still untraced,” said Anil Joshi, SHO city police station. last year saw such deaths too. Ashish Chauhan, 27, had drowned while making fun video shot in the Upper Ganga Canal. He had taken a leap into the river and that had proved fatal. In another such incident, the daughter of then UP cabinet minister Aabida Hasan had met her watery grave in the Ganga river at Phoochatti in Rishikesh while taking selfies.
Observers say that the water level of the river seeing sudden surge by 3 ft to 10 ft catches the tourists unawares. The grass growing at the bottom of the river is dangerous for the seasoned divers too, they say.
