A 17-year-old Russian teenager died in February 2026 after falling from the roof of a nine-story building in Vologda while attempting to photograph himself for his Instagram account, according to reports from Russian media outlets.
Andrey Retrovesky routinely scaled buildings and structures to capture what he described as “striking images” for his followers, routinely putting his life at risk in the process. His activities included dangling from ledges and balancing on scaffolding. The incident occurred in September 2015, when Retrovesky and a friend ascended to the roof with the intention of creating a photograph that would provide the illusion of him falling.
During the stunt, the safety rope anchoring Retrovesky to the building failed, causing him to fall to the pavement below. While bushes reportedly lessened the impact, Russian media reported that he sustained severe injuries and died in hospital approximately two hours later.
Retrovesky’s death is one of several recent incidents involving individuals risking their lives for social media content. Last September, Elizaveta ‘Liza’ Gushchina, 45, died after attempting a selfie following a bungee jump in Pavlovsk, near St Petersburg. Gushchina had successfully completed the jump using “elastic rope” but, according to reports, wished to take a photograph as a memento before slipping and falling in front of her 23-year-old son, Nikita. 23block, the firm operating the tower, described the incident as a “tragic circumstance” and noted that Gushchina was a member of their sports team.
In a separate incident last September, a 31-year-old mountaineer, identified only as Mr. Hong, fell to his death on Mount Nama in Sichuan, China, while attempting to take a selfie. Reports indicate he unfastened his safety rope to photograph the summit and lost his footing near a crevasse, falling 200 meters. Witnesses stated he was not using an ice axe and could not regain his balance.
