We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
A GERMAN TOURIST plunged 200 meters (650 feet) to his death while posing for a photo at the summit of Machu Picchu, police said yesterday.
Oliver Paps had asked another tourist to take his picture as he stood at the mountain’s peak overlooking the ancient Incan citadel in the Peruvian Andes on Wednesday.
“As another German photographed him, he fell into a deep abyss and died,” Santos Mamani, an official at the Machu Picchu commissary in Cusco, told AFP.
Before the fall, the 51-year-old had dodged security barriers and entered a restricted area, according to Cusco’s regional culture authority.
“‘I’m going to jump in the air – take a photo for me as a memory,’” said Paps before he died, according to an official witness who participated in the rescue mission.
Rescuers recovered the corpse from a deep ravine and sent it Thursday afternoon by train to a morgue in Cusco, from where it will likely be repatriated.
The Incas built the famous sacred site Machu Picchu in the 15th century to worship the sun. Now one of the most famous tourist destinations in South America, it became an official UNESCO heritage site in 1983.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I guess those security barriers were there for a reason so.
No Sh*t Sherlock.
I’m sorry he’s dead but in all fairness…What an idiot. Even if he hadn’t died he’d be risking the lives of rescuers who had to go down after him.
I’ve watched people at the Cliffs of Moher shuffling backwards while taking selfies. The only surprise is that there aren’t more similar deaths.
Correct. The idiotic antics you see from some at the Cliffs is terrifying to see!
Last time I went to the cliffs some fool of an American tourist actually walked to the sloping edge, sat down and dangled his legs off, on an extremely blustery day, all for a stupid picture and a few likes on facebook. I swear some people are dragging evolution backwards.
Do we have a Mr Darwin in the building ?
The selfie cull continues.
Wasn’t actually a selfie, but nice thought
Picture please!!
And this is news worthy to Ireland because? ??,,
Because you clicked on it ya donk
Because of yer ma
There’s always one, or in the journals case, there’s always at least 25 per day
Going beyond the security barriers is bad enough but to jump and pose what drugs was he on
have your say