If you like taking selfies, you may want to be extra careful in future as they can be potentially dangerous and even deadly, especially when you are around water.

A study has revealed more than 250 people have died while snapping photos of themselves in recent years.

Researchers analysed news reports of 259 selfie-related deaths in 137 incidents from October 2011 to November 2017.

They said there were:

:: Three reported selfie-related deaths in 2011

:: Two in 2013

:: 13 in 2014

:: 50 in 2015

:: 98 in 2016

:: 93 in 2017


The number one cause of death was drowning, followed by incidents involving transport, such as taking a selfie in front of an oncoming train, and also falling from a height.

In June this year, a British woman and her Australian partner reportedly fell to their deaths while taking a selfie on a wall at a beach in Portugal.

And in July, a British teenager died after falling from the edge of a cliff at a popular whale-watching spot in Australia while taking selfies, reports said.

India has the highest number of selfie-related deaths, followed by Russia, United States, and Pakistan, according to the the study.

Image: Many of the deaths involve people taking selfies near trains. File pic

Some 72.5% (153) of the deaths were to males and 27.5% to females.

The 20-29 age group has the highest number of deaths - 106 (or 50%), followed by 36% deaths in the 10-19 year age group.

Agam Bansal, the study's lead author, told The Washington Post: "The selfie deaths have become a major public health problem.

"If you're just standing, simply taking it with a celebrity or something, that's not harmful.

"But if that selfie is accompanied with risky behaviour then that's what makes the selfies dangerous."

Mr Bansal added he was also concerned about how many of the selfie-related fatalities involved young people.

"What worries me the most is that it is a preventable cause of death," he said.

"Taking a toll on these many numbers just because you want a perfect selfie because you want a lot of likes, shares on Facebook, Twitter or other social media, I don't think this is worth compromising a life for such a thing."

The study was by researchers from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.