US tourist injured falling into Mount Vesuvius crater after taking selfie

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

US tourist injured falling into Mount Vesuvius crater after taking selfie

Man, 23, was trying to retrieve mobile phone and he and his family now face charges for entering forbidden area

Angela Giuffrida in Rome
Mon 11 Jul 2022 07.52 EDT
Last modified on Tue 12 Jul 2022 00.09 EDT

An American tourist sustained minor injuries after he fell into the crater of Mount Vesuvius as he scrambled to retrieve his phone.

The 23-year-old and his family reached the 1,281m-high (4,202ft) summit of the volcano towering over the southern Italian city of Naples after bypassing a visitor turnstile and proceeding along an out-of-bounds path.

The man was taking a selfie, according to local press reports, when his phone slipped out of his hand and into the mouth of the volcano. He then descended into the crater in an attempt to get his phone back, only to fall several metres after losing his balance.

Vesuvius guides were first on the scene and abseiled into the crater to pull him out. Police attended the scene and a mountain rescue helicopter was launched to assist the rescue operation.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/11/us-tourist-injured-falling-mount-vesuvius-crater

[BeyondGeography]

1. Yup

Sounds like one of our guys.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

2. Cool story. Now, where's the selfie? Is it on the internets? nt

[Shanti Shanti Shanti]

8. Exactly! I want to see the pics, lol

[hlthe2b]

3. And yet, some here want to blame bison, not stupid rule-ignoring humans for recent encounters

in Yellowstone. No, it isn't that those bison are more aggressive, it is that the humans that go there are just that much more stupid (and arrogant). Just like this tourist to Vesuvius (and all the similar cohorts that walk off the rim of the Grand Canyon as they attempt the perfect "selfie." )

[Demovictory9]

4. Many mistakes: going off path. Dropping phone.. trying to get phone

[Liberal In Texas]

5. Stupid American. At least I learned another word from this report:

abseiled

"...descend a rock face or other near-vertical surface by using a doubled rope coiled round the body and fixed at a higher point; rappel."

[DFW]

6. It is an everyday word in German.

“Abseilen,” literally “down-roping.”

[Liberal In Texas]

12. Another English word inherited from another language.

German in this case. 1930–35; -German abseilen (ab- down + seilen to rope)

I'm a NYT crossword nut buy don't remember running across this one before.

[DFW]

16. Though not an NYT Crossword nut

I do live in Germany, married to a German for over 40 years, and we speak German at home. I run across it all the time.

In mountain climbing, it is specifically used to describe what climbers do when descending by hanging onto a rope, pushing back from the surface in small jumps, so as not to hit with a damaging impact when swinging back toward the rock's surface.

Figuratively, it is used to describe pushing away from a personal relationship, a political affiliation, or a tight business connection.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. For reasons I don't know, the British took the German word, the Americans took the French one

In Britain, 'rappel' would mean nothing to the general public - 'abseil' is always used. Only climbers who discuss its use in other countries would use it.

'Abseil' seems to have won the fight in Wikipedia to be the primary word it's listed under: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abseiling

[DFW]

7. Do the Darwin Awards give runner-up prizes?

If so, this guy deserves at least honorable mention.

[Hortensis]

13. :) I believe candidates have to have reached adult brain development to qualify.

Makes sense since adolescents are all too prone to being dangers to self and others by definition, and this one's only 23 with another couple years to go.

[elias7]

9. of course, American... just making us look more bad

[The Revolution]

10. My wife and I hiked up Vesuvius

When we were in Italy for our Honeymoon. No one fell in while we were there, lol. It was a really cool experience though. A great view of Naples, plus we learned a lot about the area and its history. We also went through Pompeii, which was amazing as well.

Another major eruption there could be really catastrophic, as more than half a million people live in the "red zone". Hopefully there will be plenty of warning.

[Hortensis]

11. How great, would love to see it. Apparently the the guy and his wife

took a forbidden path to the top. Did your path go along the rim at the top?

[The Revolution]

14. Yeah

We were able to look down into the crater. So I'm not sure why they needed to go off path. Looking for a better selfie angle I guess.

[Hortensis]

15. :) Shrug all right. Oh, well. He got to go on to see Pompeii.

And/or whatever.