A family was forced to watch in helpless horror as their loved one died after ignoring warning signs in hopes of capturing a photo at the “perfect selfie” spot in Australia. Sadly, a woman risked life and limb — and lost. Now, her tragic ending is serving as yet another warning about “selfish-selfies.”
Rosy Loomba — a 38-year-old, Indian-Australian mother-of-two of Craigieburn — was visiting the Grampians National Park in Victoria with her young family on a Saturday afternoon when things took a tragic turn. In hopes of capturing the “perfect selfie” at the nature reserve, Rosy ignored warnings, and it cost the woman her life.
While hiking with her family at the picturesque park, Rosy decided to pose for a photo at the Boroka lookout near the village of Halls Gap, according to the NY Post. Ignoring warnings, she climbed over a safety barrier at the “perfect selfie” spot and plunged about 260 feet to her death in front of her husband and two young sons.
Rosy’s horrified family was left to watch helplessly as it took emergency personnel more than six hours to reach and retrieve her body from the rugged terrain using a winch. Sadly, the young mother’s death was completely preventable, had she heeded the many warnings issued by police regarding the dangers of the idyllic location, which has been famed on Instagram as the “perfect selfie” spot.
Nonetheless, Rosy Loomba scaled the railing, risking life and limb for a photo before plummeting to her death as her husband and two young sons looked on helplessly. The family has, of course, been left devastated by the tragic chain of events that cost the loving wife and mother her life.
“She was a good life partner for my brother and best mum for her kids,” Rosy’s sister-in-law, Jassu Minal Loomba, told the Herald Sun. “(The family is) still in shock and it’s really hard to believe.”
Sadly, some people saw this coming. In fact, Sgt. Russell Brown predicted that “absolutely ludicrous” social posts would eventually lead to such a tragedy after a man went viral in November 2018 for a video showing him completing a backflip on the edge of the lookout with many commenting that he was “lucky to be alive.”
“From an emergency services point of view it’s quite frustrating when you see that irresponsible action that can lead to serious injury or death,” Sgt. Brown said. “If you fall, you die. If this turns bad, you’ve got to be thinking of your family, friends, and other people who have to become involved.”
This is far from anything new. In January 1999, a 59-year-old British tourist fell to her death at the same spot while vacationing with her husband and other relatives. Urging people to look out for their own safety rather than attempting to boost their social media engagement, Police Minister Lisa Neville warned that “no photo is worth a life” the day after Rosy’s untimely and unnecessary death.
“We can’t rope off every part of Victoria,” Neville said. “People have to take responsibility,” she added, according to TVNZ. “What we saw was a really tragic outcome of behavior that unfortunately we see too often,” Neville furthered, an Australian news outlet reported. “Do not take these. It not only puts you at risk but it actually risks our lifesavers and emergency services workers that have to go either to rescue you or your body.”
Again, such warnings are nothing new. Instead, they’ve just been sadly ignored. Nearly a year before the tragedy that ended Rosy’s life, police issued a warning, cautioning those who might be tempted to take unnecessary risks for a photo-op. “One of the issues that is constantly tying up our resources is individuals risking life and limb in a bid to get the ultimate selfie,” police warned.
“We regularly see dangerous photos and videos geo-tagged to the area where individuals have compromised their own safety to get a particular shot,” the warning added. “We also frequently work with local rescue teams on missions to bring individuals to safety who have ignored signage and climbed over safety barriers or fencing. Our missions do not always have successful outcomes.”
Graham Wood, who runs motorcycle tours in the area, said there was a large crowd at the lookout on the fateful Saturday when Rosy Loomba lost her life, and he hopes the tragedy can serve a purpose. “I don’t know how you can stop it [from] happening but maybe this incident will help,” he said. “It’s a hard way to get people to adhere to what should be common sense.”
