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Agence France-Presse

Peruvian police in the Amazon jungle have recovered the body of a South Korean tourist, days after he plunged to his death from one of the world’s highest waterfalls while taking a photo of himself, police said Monday.
The man, 28-year-old Kim Jongyeob, slipped and fell 500 metres at the Gocta waterfall in northeastern Peru last Wednesday, a local police official said.
“The tourist was found dead, submerged seven metres deep in the lake where into which the Gocta waterfall runs,” the official, who asked not to be named, said by telephone.
“He wanted to take a self-portrait at the waterfall but while he was looking for a good place to take it, he fell.”


Divers and mountain rescue teams were called in to recover the man’s body.
The Gocta falls are among the highest in the world, with an overall height of more than 700 metres. The drop from the top of the second set of the falls, from where Kim was apparently taking his photo, plummets more than half a kilometre.
The falls were barely known to the outside world until 2006.
The South Korean consul in Peru, Chang Dongyool, told reporters that Kim’s uncle would transport the body to Lima and cremate it there before taking the ashes back to South Korea.
Last week a 51-year-old German tourist plunged 200 metres to his death while posing for a photo on a mountainside at Peru’s top archaeological site, Machu Picchu, police said.
Selfie-distracted tourists have become a safety hazard around the globe in recent years as smartphones and selfie sticks spread. People snapping selfies have been gored by bison in Yellowstone and hit by oncoming trains.
In September, a Japanese tourist died after falling down stairs while taking a photo of himself at the Taj Mahal.
Earlier this year, a Washington state man accidentally killed himself while taking a selfie with his gun.
Additional reporting by The Washington Post


Tourist taking a selfie plunges half a kilometre to his doom at one of world’s highest waterfalls

The famed Gocta waterfalls are reputedly the third-highest set of falls in the world, with a total height of more than 700 metres. The second set of falls boasts a drop of more than 500 metres. Photo: Wikipedia

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