Sandra Manuela Da Costa Macedo, 27, tragically fell to her death when she lost her balance off a balcony of a high-rise building while attempting to take a selfie with a selfie stick in Panama City, Panama on Oct. 12. The moment of the shocking accident was caught on camera and it has people reeling over the unfortunate circumstances. Although paramedics quickly arrived after the incident, Sandra was sadly pronounced dead at the scene. Here are five things you should know about her.
1.) She was originally from Portugal. Sandra came from the Portuguese town of Aves and recently arrived in Panama City to work as a teacher, according to O Minho.
2.) She is survived by two children. After word of her death went public, many of her family and friends took to social media to express their sympathy and boast about what a great person she was. “This woman was a very good friend of mine, a mother of two children,” one friend wrote on Instagram. “She was a teacher and she was in Panama to work in her chosen profession.”
3.) The fall happened from the 27th floor of a building called the Luxor Tower. The onlooker who filmed the accident could be heard saying, “She’s mad, there she goes, look at her, look at her, she’s fallen,” in the video. There are reports that construction workers who were working on a tower next door yelled out at her to get off of the railing she was sitting on because it was dangerous but since the wind was high and blowing, she most likely didn’t hear them.
4.) Her death is among an alarming percentage of fatalities that happen while taking selfies. According to a recent study by All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi, there have been 259 deaths from taking selfies between Oct. 2011 and Nov. 2017.
5.) There’s a pending investigation into her death. Although there’s video footage of the incident and a gust of wind is what is believed to have knocked Sandra off the balcony, the authorities are still looking into the tragic circumstances.