Top 10 Tragic Deaths of Instagrammers that Shocked the Networks
The lives of these social media stars could be better than they appear to their followers. Know their stories.
What makes death tragic and unexpected?
Does it have to be exaggeratedly grotesque or have an extra dose of evil fortune?
Could they have been avoided in any way?
They have thousands of followers on different platforms, and big brands look for them to promote their products and increase sales.
Being a YouTuber or influencer ensures success and happiness.
However, once you agree to put your life on social networks, you say goodbye to your privacy until the last moments.
That is what several influencers who have lost their lives before the eyes of their thousands of followers have.
1 #Rebecca Burger
French blogger and fitness star Rebecca Burger, 33, died 2017 June 18, apparently due to the explosion of the whipped cream siphon she was using to prepare the whipped cream.
According to police sources in Mulhouse, her siphon was defective in eastern France.
And when it exploded, the pieces that flew out violently hit the athlete’s chest, causing a cardiac arrest.
The French police opened an investigation to determine how the accident could have occurred.
The family confirmed her death to the more than 160,000 followers of her Instagram account.
That showed a photograph with a siphon model similar to the one that caused her death.
Every year, domestic accidents related to this controversial kitchen utensil occur in France.
Rebecca was well known for her fitness and healthy living tips, constantly sharing posts showing off her sculpted and muscular figure and the food dishes she consumed to promote an eating regimen for lovers of her fitness lifestyle.
The health guru had her own YouTube channel with around 2,000 subscribers and boasted 159,000 followers on Instagram.
In addition to blogging, Rebecca modelled, including for health and fitness retailer Women’s Best, which posted a touching tribute online after her death.
She was also known to participate in worldwide fitness competitions.
According to NBC, it most recently placed eighth in the Arnold Classic held in Columbus, Ohio.
2 #Melania Capitán
The blogger Melania Capitán, 27, took her own life in a farmhouse in Huesca, as confirmed by the Civil Guard of Aragón.
The principal hypothesis is that the young woman decided to commit suicide.
The reason that could have led the well-known blogger to make this tragic decision has nothing to do with the harassment suffered by animal rights groups for years that she denounced a few months ago.
“She took this fatal path for personal reasons,” the magazine cites sources close to the young woman.
One of the clues pointing to the suicide hypothesis is that Mel Capitan called some friends to say goodbye hours before her death.
Then, she got into the car to go to the farmstead, where she allegedly took her own life.
The young woman, a native of Badalona living in Huesca for three years, had more than 32,000 followers on Facebook and 6,500 on Instagram, often posting photos of her hobby, despite the harsh criticism she received from animal rights groups.
After the news of her death, some people returned to Capitan’s page to write offensive comments.
Capitán denounced in the newspaper Heraldo the harassing messages she received on her Facebook page.
As a result of these threats, the young woman told the Aragonese newspaper that the situation she was living in was untenable.
Mel Capitan was an activist committed to promoting hunting among women and young people.
She participated in different associations and with the National Hunting Bureau.
An activity that her father made her love since she was a child, and she won thousands of followers, but it also brought her problems, as she acknowledged.
3 #Anette Carrion
This famous 33-year-old American Instagrammer lost her life in a traffic accident.
The events happened while riding on the Ortega Highway in California, famous for its curves.
The biker, unfortunately, fell into a ravine when taking a turn at 120 km / h and died on the spot.
Anette was a reference to female motorcycling.
She already had more than 150,000 followers on Instagram, where she was very active, posting videos with her motorcycle and encouraging women to participate in motorcycling.
Annette Carrion had a hand with motorcycles, a world she was passionate about, and a spectacular physique that she did not mind showing off despite the criticism she received in many of her publications.
In addition, the 33-year-old had created with other girls a group of bikers called “Red Line Ravens” to give visibility to women in a universe in which men generally move and to encourage them to participate in their routes and events.
4 #Wu Yongning
He was amazed at his acrobatics.
He loved to record himself while climbing and running in the middle of high-rise buildings.
That is called ‘roof topping and consists of climbing skyscrapers without any protection.
Therefore, Wu Yongning did not have the word ‘vertigo’ or ‘acrophobia’ in his mind.
He was a daredevil through and through.
His followers on the Chinese social network ‘Weibo’ applauded his actions.
They became concerned at the end of 2017 because he was not uploading videos as usual. They feared the worst.
And that, precisely, was what happened.
His latest deadly climb shows Wu sliding down the wall of the Huayuan International Centre building.
After several exercises, he tries to return to the roof, but his feet slip on the vertical metallic wall, fails to return to safety, and falls.
He recorded it on his cell phone on the roof of the skyscraper.
The family confirmed that he died while performing a challenge in which he hoped to win 100 thousand yuan (about 60 million Colombian pesos).
He planned to propose to his girlfriend the day after the challenge.
“He wanted the money for his wedding and to pay for treatment for his mother, who is ill,” his stepbrother told the South China Morning Post.
5 #Sofia Cheung
Sofia Cheung, a famous influencer from Hong Kong, died while snapping a selfie on the edge of a waterfall.
Cheung, 32 years old and with nearly 17,000 followers on Instagram, was enjoying a day outdoors with three friends at Ha Pak Lai Park, a wildlife habitat near Yuen Long.
The blogger decided to take photos of herself on the edge of a waterfall called Pineapple Mountain, a picturesque and popular place for tourists at sunset.
Apparently, after a move manoeuvre, the girl lost her balance and fell into the void, hitting the water.
Her friends called the emergency services, and rescuers quickly arrived.
The young woman went to a Hong Kong hospital, where she was pronounced dead on arrival.
Sofia had a reputation for being a daredevil and posted photos of her risky adventures climbing cliffs and mountain tops on Instagram.
Her passions were hiking, kayaking, exploring, outdoor activities, and photography.
In her bio, she left written that (“life should be fun, not silly”).
6 #Stanislav Reshetnikov
This Russian YouTuber broadcasted the death of his girlfriend, Valentina Grigorieva.
Reshétnikov had a YouTube and Twitch channel where he went to the extreme with his jokes.
He was known as Reeflay Panini.
His followers applauded many of his quips, such as making his girlfriend eat garbage.
But the last of them resulted in a complete tragedy.
The man pepper-sprayed her.
And her pleas for help from the burning pulled her out onto the balcony of his house.
He prevented her from entering for two hours.
He continued with the transmission.
After a few minutes, he wanted to check on his partner.
His 26-year-old girlfriend was dead.
She appeared to freeze temperatures because of the winter season in Moscow.
“It’s so weird, what am I going to regret? Actually, I didn’t do anything. I called the ambulance,” the man told ‘Ren TV.’
Valentina Grigoryeva’s death occurred in December 2020.
The Investigative Committee of the Moscow Regional Directorate noted that the woman had a closed craniocerebral injury, multiple signs of blows, and a subdural hematoma.
Some of these blows passed.
Reshetnikov got to six years in prison.
7 #Sun
The man, surnamed Sun, died while broadcasting live on the Chinese social network DouYu.
He was 35 years old, and his transmissions were characterized by eating insects and worms.
His death occurred in 2019 in an apartment in Hefei, Anhui Province, China.
He had a roulette wheel that he played with, and depending on what it told him, he would ingest alcohol, insects, or vinegar.
According to local media and the Daily Mail, police authorities were alerted because his girlfriend found him without vital signs during a broadcast.
His computer was in live streaming mode, so the report concluded that he died while streaming.
The actual cause of death could be the parasite Angiostrongylus cantonensis: also known as (“rat worm”); this insect passes from organism to organism through food and has already caused deaths in recent months in China.
8 #Gigi Wu
Taiwanese Gigi Wu was 36 years old and was known on social networks for her passion for the mountains and a rarity: every time she reached the summits, she posed in her underwear or bikini, regardless of the cold, wind, snow, or any other inclement weather.
As her fans know her, the (“bikini climber”) reached the highest point, took several pictures, and shared them with her thousands of followers on Facebook.
As she used to do whenever she could, Gigi went on long hikes alone.
On the day of her death, she contacted a friend in Taiwan by satellite phone, told her that she had hurt her leg falling into a crevasse, and asked for help.
That was the last communication.
In the last stretches to climb the highest mountain in Yushan National Park, Gigi fell a ravine almost meters high.
He was unable to recover.
According to Taiwan News, rescuers found her 28 hours after the last call, as weather conditions were difficult.
With so much delay, the rescuers found her dead.
During the night, the temperature where Gigi fell drops sharply to two degrees or below.
That’s why they found the “bikini climber” frozen at about 1,700 meters above sea level.
Her Facebook wall got messages bidding her farewell.
9 #Odali Santos Mena
Odal Santos Mena, a successful influencer from Mexico, passed away at 23.
She was famous for her Instagram profile on sports and bodybuilding.
She wanted to solve the excessive sweating or hyperhidrosis she suffered from as soon as possible.
The cause of death has been that a person who is not an anesthesiologist has placed the anaesthesia and went into arrest.
The doctors were unable to do anything to save Santos’ life.
Odalis, a native of Autlán de Navarro, wanted to stop excessive sweating as soon as possible, something she considered a personal problem.
For this, she went to the Skin Piel Wellness Center clinic in Guadalajara, Jalisco (Mexico), with whom she had already collaborated as an influencer to undergo a procedure known as MiraDry.
That permanently reduces sweat, odour, and hair in the armpits.
The operation involved few risks since it took a single session.
And the side effects after the procedure are mild: numbness, bruising, swelling, and sensitivity in the treated areas since the sweat and odour glands get eliminated using thermal energy.
The influencer decided to have the surgery because it was a simple procedure.
The influencer shared with her followers how one of the clinic workers explained to her how the operation would be.
However, Odalis never got past the first point of the treatment.
When the other workers realized that the Mexican woman was in cardiac arrest, they could only try to resuscitate her manually since they could not find the CPR equipment.
The deceased’s family filed the facts, and the Jalisco State Prosecutor’s Office has already opened an investigation to clarify matters.
The clinic has defended itself by saying that what caused the death of the influencer was the mixture of anaesthesia and substances (Clenbuterol, creatine, and oxandrolone) that Odalis had taken and had not notified before the operation.
After her death, many people said goodbye by posting comments on social networks, including her partner, Víctor Gómez Carreño, who wrote a dedication to the athlete on his social networks.
10 #Areline Martinez
The 21-year-old Mexican woman lost her life while allegedly participating in a video for TikTok.
Her case was made public in October 2020 and occurred in Chihuahua.
She was accompanied by what would have been her friends.
According to witnesses present at the scene, they were simulating a kidnapping.
Therefore, she was blindfolded, and her legs and hands were tied.
In behind-the-scenes videos uploaded by some people to the networks, everyone seemed to be having fun.
Areline was shot in her head by one of the weapons used.
The alleged perpetrators fled the scene, but local media said the State Attorney General’s Office had already identified them.
The investigation into the case is trying to clarify whether they were filming a simulation.
And what the relationship of the alleged perpetrators with the criminal gang Los Payasos was.
The young woman was the mother of a baby.
Sources:
https://www.lavanguardia.com
https://elpais.com
https://www.eltiempo.com
Thank you for reading!
Rocio Becerra