Tributes are being paid to am Indian-origin student who lost his life in a tragic mishap at a tourist hot spot in Co Clare County in western Ireland on Friday.
26-year-old Anand Goel fell at least 600 feet onto the shores below after he lost his footing while reportedly clicking a selfie on the Cliffs of Moher.
Described as an adventurer and a keen photographer, Anand was touring the scenic cliffs when the incident occurred.
The search and rescue team rushed to the spot as soon as the alarm was raised. The young student’s body which was recovered from the sea with the help of a search helicopter was rushed to nearby Doolin, where he was pronounced dead.
“There is nothing to suggest at this stage that this was anything other than a tragic accident. Initial indications are, having taken statements from a number of people, that the victim was taking a selfie and lost his footing,” a police official said.
“We will continue with the investigation and prepare a file for the county coroner who will hold an inquest in due course,” he added.
Anand who had shifted from Delhi to Dublin in September 2018 was pursuing a marketing and design degree from Trinity College in Dublin.
The Police official confirmed that his family back in India has been notified and efforts are underway to repatriate his body to Delhi with the help of the Indian Embassy in Ireland.
Anand’s sudden death has left a gaping hole in the hearts of his friends and family who described him as a “loving” and “responsible” human being who loved to “explore and travel.”
In a tribute on Twitter, Trinity College wrote that they are reaching to Anand’s fellow students, friends and staff at Trinity supporting them during this distressing time.
Selfies resulting in serious accidents and in worse cases death has emerged as a global phenomenon, but a recent study found that India has had the highest number of “selfie deaths”.
The collaborative study conducted by researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and Indraprastha Institute of Information Delhi revealed that 76 of the 127 reported selfie deaths that occurred between March 2014 and September 2016 were reported in India.
In January last year, a man had a near-death encounter when he was hit by a train in Hyderabad in southern India while he was attempting to take a selfie standing eerily close to an approaching train.
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