Seconds after a couple took a selfie capturing their final moment, a tragic disaster happened.
Andrea Mazzetto and his partner, Sara Bragante, decided to go on a hike together to climb Altar Knotto, an evocative rock formation in his hometown of Rotzo, Italy.
The Italian man was an entrepreneur and fitness lover. Mazzetto regularly shared his life on Instagram to his 2,000 followers.
Mazzetto, who was 30 at the time of his death, was documenting the couple’s adventure on social media on that tragic day.
These images and videos would sadly be the last thing he would do.
The rock formation is called Altar Knotto because it resembles an altar. It has always evoked tales and legends about disturbing sacrifices, as per Asiago.
On August 20, the pair went on an active day out, not knowing the heartbreaking way it would end.
The incident happened at around 2 p.m., and now heartwrenching photo shows the couple beaming with smilies, enjoying their time together.
Selfies are a fairly recent phenomenon. In 2013, the Oxford Dictionary named them the word of the year, per the BBC.
Selfie-related deaths have become a recent emerging problem, with many people not thinking of the potential surrounding dangers when trying to get the perfect picture of themselves in an exciting environment.
According to a 2022 study published in The Journal of Travel Medicine, there were 379 selfie-related deaths between 2008 and 2021 – which is more than four times the number of people who died from shark bites in the same period.
The National Library of Medicine performed a study to assess the epidemiology of selfie-related deaths across the globe.
The conclusion was: “‘No selfie zones’ areas should be declared across tourist areas especially places such as water bodies, mountain peaks, and over tall buildings to decrease the incidence of selfie-related deaths.”
Earlier this year Chinese national, Huang Lihong fell into the Ijen, a volcano in Indonesia while on holiday.
She had been trying to get the perfect selfie, hoping to get the perfect snap of herself with the beautiful view in the background.
The tourist had been repeatedly warned about getting too close to the edge, as she was posing for a photograph her skirt snagged and she stumbled backward, falling over the edge of the crater.
Lihong fell 250ft into the mouth of the volcano and it took rescuers more than two hours to retrieve her body.
And now, a very similar fate has happened to the Italian-born Mazzetoo.
It was first reported that his girlfriend, Bragante had dropped her phone, later confirmed by a local news outlet it was Mazzetto who had dropped his phone and tried to retrieve it.
When he tried to get his phone back, he lost his balance and fell from the cliff, plummeting to the floor.
Bragante was reportedly in a state of shock when she alerted the emergency services, a team of firefighters and alpine rescue officers, along with a medical team.
Mazzetto was pronounced dead at the scene, and his body was removed by a helicopter.
Following her boyfriend’s death, Brangnte shared their final picture on Instagram, she captioned the image: “Our cursed last photo together. You will always be with me, my little bear.”
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Written by Kyra Hall
Kyra is a content editor at IGV who specializes in film, TV, and celebrity news. She has a degree in Broadcast Journalism and a master’s in Documentary Production from Nottingham Trent University. Kyra previously worked as an intern at ITV Tonight and as a freelance filmmaker.
