10 of the most dangerous and incredible selfies ever taken

Kim Renfro
Photo: George Kourounis/Twitter

The ubiquitous photo style may not be as harmless as it may seem.

Incredible and sometimes dangerous events can unfold during the moment of inattention when people turn a camera on themselves. There are also photographers who seek out extreme danger as a backdrop for their selfies.

Getting the perfect snapshot isn’t worth what some amateur photographers have risked — deliberately or otherwise. Several reports of deaths or serious injuries caused by selfie-taking have sprung up in recent years.

Scroll down to see rare selfies from around the world that capture some heart-pounding close calls and extreme dangers.

Warning: Do not attempt any of these shots.

Jared Michael was taking a selfie along a railway when a train zoomed past him at full speed -- and just inches away. The train's conductor kicked Michael in the head mid-selfie, presumably to get him out of harm's way.

Youtube

Michael walked away uninjured, and his original April 2014 YouTube video of the incident went viral. (It had 38 million views when we published this article.) He recently posted an explainer video, in which he calls himself a 'dummy' and the selfie attempt a 'stupid mistake.'

Reporter Kelly Nash was in Fenway Park watching batting practice when she decided to capture the moment in a selfie. A ball flew past her head right as the camera recorded a photo.

Nash didn't realise a baseball had nearly slammed into her head until later on. She told Fox Sports Florida 'when I went to text (my family) the picture I noticed the baseball by my head!'

A thrill-seeker known as 'Mustang Wanted' regularly posts photos and videos from atop buildings he climbs with no safety gear. The below selfie was taken in Dubai.

Mustang Wanted is an expert balancer, but his photos show an insane level of risk not worth attempting.

Mustang Wanted isn't alone -- other young Instagram users illegally climb bridges and buildings and take selfies of the acts as a hobby. Nikita Agapov is one of them.

Agapov lives in St. Petersburg, Russia, and regularly uploads photos of escapades on rooftops and construction sites.

Ferdinand Puentes had his GoPro video camera rolling when a small plane he was in crashed into the ocean. Deciding to leave the camera rolling, he flipped the device around, capturing this selfie with the sinking plane in the background.

Twitter

Tragically, one of Puentes' fellow passengers died in the plane crash. Puentes and others were later rescued via helicopter and brought safely to shore.

Alex Lopatnyuk was gator hunting in Florida and brought along a GoPro for the first time. He decided to get a selfie of himself driving -- but wasn't paying attention to the road ahead. Lopatnyuk crashed into the a truck in front of him, shattering his windshield.

YouTube

The Florida man was otherwise unharmed in the accident, and uploaded the full video to YouTube later that day.

This man risked his life to get a selfie at a bull-running event held in France. An onlooker recorded a video showing the risky selfie-taker getting knocked down by a bull after turning his back to it.

YouTube

According to Mashable, 'a person who claims to be the selfie-taker, Francois Hofer, commented that he was thankful for the footage. He said the video was better than just the selfie itself.' We were unable to track down the actual selfie taken by Hofer.

Adventurous photographer George Kourounis couldn't resist getting an 'extreme' selfie while visiting an active volcano crater.

George Kourounis/Twitter

The shot was made possible after Kourounis climbed nearly 400 metres down into the volcano crater. He tweeted the photo along with the caption 'When normal selfies are not extreme enough!'

In the low-quality video snapshot below, you can see two Iranian women in a car taking a selfie video. The driver of the car, on the right, has both of her hands off the wheel. Seconds later, they crash.

khashayaar90/YouTube

In the full video, you can see the camera flung and airbags going off. Both women survived (at least one of them was wearing a seat bealt) and even posted more selfies from the hospital.

Not all crashes end with lucky survivors. Reggaeton musician Jadiel snapped this selfie on his motorcycle minutes before losing control of the bike, resulting in a fatal crash.

Fans still comment on the post, expressing condolences and grief for the young man's untimely death.

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