A tourist plunged more than 80 feet to his death in Bali Sunday while trying to take a selfie with his girlfriend at a popular waterfall spot, according to reports.
Giancarlo Zicari, 49, and Ilaria Biagi, 25, from Italy were posing at the top of Gajah Ma’s waterfall around 11:30 a.m. when the iron railing they were leaning against suddenly collapsed, reported the Bali Sun.
The couple fell a distance equivalent to the height of an 8-story building and landed at the foot of the natural tourist spot.
Biagi survived the fall but found her boyfriend dead. Despite a suspected minor head injury and abrasions all over her body, she managed to get back to the top and find help.
Local police confirmed the incident to reporters in Bali, but declined to comment on responsibility for the railing that buckled under their weight.
Zicari, an engineer from Rome, and Biagi had fallen from a viewing terrace that had two wooden seats next to the metal railing intended to prevent falls.
They were trying to take a selfie when the railing collapsed, Bali Sun reported.
Police said Zicari’s family has refused to have an autopsy performed and is in the process of returning his body to Italy.
The tragedy comes just weeks after a teenage tourist slipped off a treacherous cliff path in Bali during a family holiday.
The 17-year-old from China suffered serious head and neck injuries but survived the fall.