Michael Harthorne

Newser

(NEWSER) – It wasn't quite death-by-selfie, but it wasn't far off. Peru This Week reports that a German tourist died Wednesday while posing for a photo at Peru's famed Machu Picchu site.

Oliver Park, 51, went into a restricted area of the mountainous tourist locale in the Andes, despite warning signs and instructions from wardens, reports the BBC. The channel says that while posing for a photo at the edge of a ravine, Park apparently decided to jump in the air to make it look like he was flying. Instead, he ended up falling off the cliff.

A witness gives a slightly different take to TV station Canal N, as translated by the Washington Post: "He asked a man who was there to take a photo of him," recounts the Peruvian tourist. "The man came over to take the photo and in the moment he was handing him the camera, he lost his balance and fell.”

Both accounts agree that Park had ventured into an area of Machu Picchu, home to an ancient Incan citadel, that's supposed to be off limits to tourists. His body was recovered Thursday.

(In 2014, Machu Picchu was plagued by streakers.)

This story originally appeared on Newser:

Oliver Park Wanted to Look Like He Was Flying. He Ended up Falling

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