Top 10 CRAZIEST Ways Tourists Have DIED on Vacation
There are lots of ways to die on vacation; you don't just have to visit some of the world's deadliest tourist destinations. It can be as easy as being struck by lightning, hit by a coconut, or attacked by a shark. And, let's all promise to avoid “Death by Selfie”… WatchMojo counts down ten weird ways travelers have died abroad.
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Top 10 CRAZIEST Ways Tourists Have DIED on Vacation
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Everyone wants to get away from time to time... but you usually expect to come back. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Craziest Ways Tourists Have Died On Vacation. For this list, we’ll be looking at strange and downright insane stories of vacations that ended in fatal tragedy.
#10: Drowned at Disneyland
The Magic Kingdom isn’t all magic, unfortunately. In 1973, 18-year-old Bogden Delaurot and his 10-year-old brother were visiting Disneyland from Brooklyn. After stopping off on Tom Sawyer Island with the rest of the crowd, they jumped a fence and hid in an off-limits area until after the attraction’s closing time. They successfully avoided detection, but were left with no way off the island apart from swimming. Unfortunately, the younger Delaurot didn’t know how, and had to be carried by Bogden. They made it about halfway before Bogden went down and didn’t come back up. His brother managed to stay afloat until he was rescued. Bogden’s body wasn’t found until the next morning.
#9: Indirectly Struck by Lightning
With no responsibilities and the freedom to travel the world, gap years can be an incredible opportunity for fun and self-discovery. Unfortunately, for American tourist Sam Beattie , catastrophe cut it short. While the 24-year-old was camping with girlfriend Michele Segalla in New South Wales on the ominously named Mount Warning during a storm, lightning seemingly struck near the couple’s tent. The shock came into contact with Beattie’s feet, allegedly killing him instantly. Two hikers in the area tried to resuscitate Beattie, but it was too late. Segalla had to sit by his body for hours before emergency services came. Lightning from the powerful storm struck another man North of Sydney, who survived.
#8: Hit by a Coconut
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When it comes to “death by coconut”, the oft-cited figure is 150 fatalities per year, but this has largely been discredited. That statistic was first suggested by marketing director Brent Escott of the British travel insurance firm “Club Direct”, who erroneously interpreted data from the 1984 publication "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts". While the real numbers are likely lower, the author of the study Dr. Peter Barss warns that coconuts still pose a serious threat. In 2012, a female tourist died after being struck by a coconut while hiking in French Polynesia. Queensland in Australia has removed coconut trees from their beaches, while other areas around the world have put up signs warning tourists of the danger of this killer fruit.
#7: Dropped by Broken Gondola
At Six Flags in St. Louis in 1978, disaster struck for an uncle and his three nieces as they were riding the Skyway. The ride had visitors traverse the park in small gondolas that could reach as high as 200 feet above ground. A support arm on one of the towers broke, and the gondola holding the 4 family members fell straight down, killing the uncle and 2 of the nieces. The remaining niece was critically injured. The ride was immediately stopped and up to 100 people were stuck in the air for hours while firefighters came to the rescue. Despite popular belief to the contrary, it seems rollercoasters aren’t the only accident-prone rides out there.
#6: Attacked by a Shark
What’s there to fear at the beach? Well, if coconuts aren’t enough for you, there are always sharks to consider. The highest number of shark attacks occur in Australia and the United States, but they’ve been known to happen around Africa and Asia, too. The 2010 Sharm El-Sheikh attacks in Egypt resulted in severe injuries for three Russians and a Ukrainian, and the death of a German woman. While kicking the bucket this way is horrifying to say the least, it’s also important to remember that the odds of being attacked by a shark are VERY low. In the U.S., it’s 1 in 11.5 million, and for that attack to prove fatal it’s less than 1 in 264 million.
#5: Death by Selfie
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Just like your mother always said, that phone will be the death of you. Many people take photos on top of Machu Picchu in Peru, but one German tourist, 51-year-old Oliver Park, tried for one that involved jumping in the air, and fell off the mountain. In the same week, to the North, a South Korean tourist fell off the Gocta Waterfall, dropping over 1600 feet to his death. In 2015, a selfie-distracted Japanese tourist met his demise by falling down the stairs in the Taj Mahal, which is coincidentally a tomb. The epidemic isn’t just contained to tourists either, so check your surroundings next time you take out that phone.
#4: Attacked by an Alligator
Florida’s known for their alligators, and while they generally haven’t caused a large number of fatalities, those visiting should be mindful. Sadly, this even applies to the place where dreams come true - Disney World. In 2016, 2-year-old Nebraska native Lane Graves stood at the edge of the water at the Seven Seas Lagoon in Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort, and was promptly pulled in by an alligator. His parents jumped in to try to save him, but it was too late, and there was nothing they could do to stop the 7-to-8 foot alligator as it retreated into the water with their son. Lane’s body was found the next day.
#3: Under Mysterious Circumstances
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The Phi Phi Islands in Thailand have seen a boom in tourism in recent years, but with that, there have also been more tourist deaths, some of which have occurred under mysterious circumstances. Back in 2012, two Quebecoise sisters were found dead in their hotel room, covered in vomit, with bluish fingernails and toenails. Theories abounded, blaming everything from drugs to food poisoning. Eventually, investigations revealed that they most likely died from the deadly pesticide “aluminum phosphide”. The deaths of a Norwegian and American tourist on the islands three years prior, along with four people in northern Thailand, have also been linked to pesticide poisoning.
#2: Fell into a Volcano
In 2010, on the beautiful island of Bali in Indonesia, a 25-year-old Swedish tourist and two of his friends were walking on the rim of Mount Batur , an active volcano. The path they were taking was deemed safe, but the unlucky Swede fell into the volcano to his death. Don’t blame selfies for this one; authorities say that the slippery rocks were the cause of the fall. He wasn’t killed by lava as the crater is currently dry, but death by jagged rocks isn’t much better. While fortune wasn’t on the Swede’s side, it certainly was for an American who fell over 1500 feet into Mount St. Helens and survived the incident.
#1: Dissolved at Yellowstone
While at Yellowstone National Park looking for a place to ‘hot pot’, which means to illegally go swimming in one of the park’s hot springs, 23-year-old Oregon native Colin Scott and his sister Sable went into a prohibited area. What happened next is straight out of a horror movie. Colin slipped and fell into one of the springs and didn’t come back up. Authorities could see his head, upper torso, and hands, but couldn’t recover them right away. When they came back the next day, he had been totally dissolved by the extreme heat and acidic nature of the spring. All that was left were his flip-flops and wallet. It all just kinda makes us want to never go on vacation again.
