Couple grieves highly-qualified son who plummeted 40ft to his death while taking selfie on top of a rock

As quoted by the Daily Mail, Dias' heartbroken mother Luiza Rodrigues, 60, said, "In the morning he had signed a contract with a company he wanted to work for. So he went out with a friend to have a little celebration on the beach. I talked to him and asked where he was. He replied that he was on the beach. But I don't know why he decided to climb that high rock." She said Dias had graduated from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and had two post-graduate degrees. "He was an only child, he studied, he had a whole life ahead of him," his mother told local media. Meanwhile, his devastated father, Jonas, said, "He died before me, and I don't accept that. I think that every son has to bury his father, and not the father bury his son. It was a tragedy."

Rio de Janeiro Fire Department spokesman Fabio Contreiras said in a statement, "We always have to be safe, never get close to the edge of the rocks, ask someone to take a picture, if necessary. Always seek safety first. Don't risk your life for likes." This comes after a Spanish study published in 2021 found that between January 2008 and July 2021, one person died every 13 days in an accident while trying to capture a landscape. Brazil reportedly registered the fifth-highest number of such incidents.

TOP STORIES

'Best SNL monologue ever': Internet reacts as Dave Chappelle takes aim at Kanye West and Kyrie Irving

Wings Over Dallas crash: Video shows sky FULL of planes before horrifying fatal collision 

MEAWW previously reported how a mother-of-two tragically fell to her death from the 27th floor of a building while taking a selfie. The victim, identified as 27-year-old Sandra Manuela Da Costa Macedo, was leaning against a balcony railing in an attempt to take the photo but lost her footing while doing the same. Harrowing footage from the incident showed the victim still holding the selfie stick during her freefall toward the ground. The incident took place in a building called the Luxor Tower in the popular neighborhood of El Cangrejo in Panama City. Paramedics rushed to the scene after the alarm was raised at around 10 am local time but found that the woman was already dead.

MEAWW also reported how a man was sentenced to life in prison after pushing his pregnant wife off a cliff just moments after taking selfies with her to claim insurance. Hakan Aysal, 40, was found guilty of pushing his seven-months-pregnant wife Semra, 32, off a cliff in southern Turkey in June 2018. The judges at Fethiye High Criminal Court, southern Turkey told Aysal on October 25 that he must serve at least 30 years in prison before being considered for release.