Indonesia police reported Thursday that five members of a local family drowned after a dock where they were taking a selfie collapsed, just weeks after a similar tragedy.
"They were taking a selfie on the dock when the accident happened," said local police chief Junaidi Nur, who added that the event occurred after closing hours, thus there was no security present.
The 14-member family was at Kandi Lake in West Sumatra when they gathered on the wooden structure to take a group shot, but their weight caused it to collapse, according to police.
A 17-year-old was one among the five people who drowned, while the rest of the family survived the tragedy Wednesday.
The bodies were eventually recovered after a rescue effort, and Nur said an investigation was underway.
Nine tourists drowned earlier this month after their overloaded boat capsized while attempting a selfie in a reservoir on Java Island.
According to reports, the majority, if not all, of the 20 passengers on board moved to the right side of the boat for a group shot. The boat became unbalanced as a result, capsizing and throwing passengers into the water.
Of the 20 passengers, 11 were saved right away. Unfortunately, the accident claimed the lives of seven persons.
The main cause of the accident, according to authorities' investigations, was overcapacity. Although passengers taking selfies while on the boat was a risky decision, it is not entirely their fault.
Due to low safety standards, boat accidents are widespread in Indonesia, a Southeast Asian archipelago of roughly 17,000 islands.
In April, rescuers were rushed to find 17 fishermen after two boats collided in West Java. When the search was over, three people were found dead and 13 people were still missing.
In January 2020, a boat carrying 20 migrant laborers to Malaysia sank off the shore of Sumatra island, leaving ten people missing.
