Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Asia Wire Report

This young female university student died when she plunged 2000m off the side of a mountain after accidentally toppling off a cliff while taking a selfie.

The young woman who was identified only by her surname Deng had travelled up to the observation deck at the Hua Shan scenic area in China but was reportedly not paying attention when she walked off the cliff taking the selfie. The scene is the location of Mount Hua which is one of the five great mountains of China and has enormous religious significance.

Local media reported that the student, whose age is not given, had taken several photos already, and even uploaded some of them on social media and had been talking to her friends online about the snaps as she took still more.

But distracted by the phone, she had apparently walked into a guardrail which was not high enough and toppled off the cliff with nobody noticing.

However her online friends were baffled at the fact that she suddenly stopped replying to them, and raised the alarm with authorities who checked surveillance footage and spotted her falling to her death.

A Hua Shan official said: “In the video, I saw that there were five tourists and two staff members present at the time. The tourists took photos and enjoyed the scenery. Deng could be seen standing on the edge of the cliff with her back against the scenery so her selfie would overlook the background.

“But because she wasn’t standing on stable ground and the guardrail wasn’t high enough to prevent her fall, she took a step backward and fell from the top of the mountain.”

Officials are investigating including the fact that the guardrail was apparently not high enough and was less than half the height of an average adult.

Young’s family already did a complaint saying that the scenic area must take full responsibility for her death.

However, officials rejected the allegation, saying “she fell off the cliff because she lost her balance when taking a selfie”.

They did, however, offer to pay some money towards covering the funeral costs as a gesture of goodwill.

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