37 year old, Aline Tamara Moreira de Amorim and 27 year old Beatriz Tavares da Silva Faria, two Brazilian influencers, went out for a luxurious yacht party, along with other members. The event was set off from coast of São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil.
The high end yacht event was all about socializing, enjoying festivities, having fun and of course taking scenic pictures and posting online.
However, the decision of not wearing life jackets to avoid ruining tans and selfies costed the influencers their precious lives.
Before the tragic accident, the two young girls, hopped on a smaller speedboat from yacht to sail towards the shore.
Unluckily, having a capacity of only five people, the speed boat was crowded with two extras as the speed boat was carrying instead seven people on the boat.
Despite being warned by the captain, Aline and Beatriz refused to wear life jackets because of beauty concerns. As wearing life jackets could ruin their sun tans and selfies, they said.
Even not knowing how to swim didn’t make the two girls opt for safety precautions.
Things worsened when the unpredictable nature of sea came into play. The roughness of sea capsized sea boat and threw the passengers in the water at the dangerous Devil’s Throat area of the Iguazu River.
Some overboard victims clanged to the rocks and stones while Aline and Beatriz were swept away by the waves. The captain tried his best to save the drowning passengers but the decision of not wearing life jacket robbed the girls of their lives.
Sadly, the bodies of the two influencers, Aline and Beatriz, were found later – one on the shore and the other at the sea.
Just before this dreadful incident, Aline had posted her pictures online on social media.
This shocking incident shows how influencers take risks, sometimes beyond what seems reasonable, to post content on social media. But disheartening, no amount of likes on those pictures can bring the precious lives back.
A 2023 study done at the University of New South Wales indicates the frequency of injuries and causalities, in order to take risky selfies, are rising in today’s era of social media hype. The study emphasizes the dire need to take measures in order to reduce the preventable accidents.
One of the survivors, Vanessa Audrey da Silva, shared chilling details on the incident how she was not able to see anything except waves of water.
She mentioned, wearing life jacket helped her stay afloat, and she somehow managed to cling to the rock until help arrived.
This catastrophic incident is a life lesson for others to prioritize safety precautions over any and everything else – you name it. Influencers, as well as general public, need to outweigh the dangerous risks taken for social media popularity.