A family wants to climb Vesuvius, but not through the official route with tickets: the four US tourists take a forbidden route. A 23-year-old wants to capture the hike up the volcano with a selfie. He falls and the attempt almost ends in disaster.
A US tourist on Vesuvius in Italy almost paid with his life for the hunt for the perfect selfie. According to several local media, the 23-year-old fell into a crater of the volcano near Naples last Saturday, but was only slightly injured.
As the British newspaper "The Guardian" quotes from local media, the 23-year-old and three family members penetrated into a cordoned-off area of the volcano. There, the young man pulled out his smartphone to take a selfie. But the device slipped out of his hand and fell into the crater. However, the young American did not want to give up his smartphone and climbed after it. However, the tourist lost his balance and fell several meters down.
The young American was very fortunate on two occasions: on the one hand, he was only slightly injured when he fell in the crater. He only suffered abrasions, injuries and bruises, as the British newspaper reports. On the other hand, he only slid about 15 meters deep into the crater. He could have fallen a lot lower.
His family members informed the mountain guides. They freed the selfie hunter from his distress and pulled him out of the crater with a rope. The young American received medical care after the rescue. He and his family members now have to face criminal consequences: According to media reports, the group had made their way to the top of the 1281-meter-high volcanic mountain without tickets on a forbidden route. The police informed them that they had illegally entered public premises.
In 2017, a family was not so lucky in a similar accident in Italy: near Naples, an eleven-year-old boy and his parents died falling into a volcanic crater. At the time, the family was traveling along the Solfatara, a crater in the urban area of Pozzuoli west of Naples. According to the authorities, the eleven-year-old had overcome a barrier and then fell into the crater. His parents tried to save him. The three are believed to have suffocated from escaping gases. The younger son of the family stayed behind the barrier and unharmed, according to the visitor center.
