
 
 Visitors take photos with their mobile phones at the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes on Dec. 2, 2014. (Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters) 
 
 A German tourist has died while trying to take a photo atop Machu Picchu. 
 
 The tourist, identified by the BBC and Peruvian media as 51-year-old Oliver Park, died Wednesday after slipping from a ledge and falling approximately 130 feet. 
 
 He was posing for a mid-leap photo when he fell off Machu Picchu mountain, which overlooks the ancient Incan citadel of the same name. 
 
 [Watch: Google captures ‘360’ view of Machu Picchu] 
 
 Peruvian officials said the tourist bypassed a security cordon and ventured into an off-limits area before tumbling to his death, El Comercio reported. 
 
 “He asked a man who was there to take a photo of him,” Guillermo Mestas, a Peruvian tourist, told television station Canal N. “The man came over to take the photo and in the moment he was handing him the camera, he lost his balance and fell.” 
 
 By the time rescuers reached the tourist about an hour and a half later, the man was dead, Mestas said. 
 
 His body was removed from the mountainside and taken by train to a morgue in Cusco on Thursday night, according to Canal N. 
 
 The German’s death was the latest in a long string of accidents suffered by tourists as they posed for photographs in scenic locations. 
 
 A day earlier, a South Korean tourist fell to his death while taking a selfie in the north of Peru. The tourist plunged more than 1,600 feet off the Gocta waterfall in the Amazonas region, according to Canal N. 
 
 Selfie-distracted tourists have become a safety hazard around the globe in recent years as smartphones and selfie sticks spread. People snapping selfies have been gored by bison in Yellowstone and hit by oncoming trains. 
 
 Last year, a Japanese tourist died after falling down stairs while taking a photo of himself at the Taj Mahal. In December, a family of four drowned in southern India after a woman’s selfie went awry, according to the Times of India. And this June, seven men drowned in the Ganges in another river-side selfie gone wrong, the Telegraph reported. 
 
 Earlier this year, a Washington state man accidentally killed himself while taking a selfie with his gun. 
 
 [More people died taking selfies in India last year than anywhere else in the world] 
 
 Machu Picchu is a particularly dangerous location for attempting a selfie. The stone temple was built by the Incas around 1450 and abandoned roughly a century later after the arrival of Spanish conquistadors. The site, which is considered sacred by many Peruvians, is located 8,000 feet above sea level. Perched atop a crest in the Andes mountains, the temple offers stunning views of surrounding peaks as well as a river valley more than 1,000 feet below. 
 
 
 
 A general view of the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu as seen on Dec. 2, 2014. (Enrique Castro-Mendivil/Reuters) 
 
 The UNESCO World Heritage site is Peru’s top tourist attraction. It is so popular that the Peruvian government decided in 2014 to limit the number of tourists per day to 2,500 for safety reasons and to preserve the ruins. 
 
 Machu Picchu’s beauty has long proved beguiling, however. 
 
 In 1997, an American tourist plunged to her death after slipping on a mountain path overlooking Machu Picchu. Ingrid Mason, 70, and two friends were walking down Huayna Picchu, a mountain that overlooks the stone citadel, when she fell 400 feet, according to the Miami Herald. 
 
 In 2004, a Russian tourist died after being struck by lightning while climbing the same peak. 
 
 And in 2011, an Australian man died inside a tower at Machu Picchu after suffering a suspected heart attack. 
 
 [Bison selfies are a bad idea: Tourist gored in Yellowstone as another photo goes awry] 
 
 The mountain and the surrounding area saw a spate of deadly accidents in 2013. 
 
 In January, an American tourist named Rachel Cecilia Ianni died after falling down a ravine while hiking a lower section of the Inca Trail. 
 
 A month later, a German couple were visiting Machu Picchu when a rock fell on top of them. Heize Beat, 49, fell down a slope to his death. His girlfriend, 46-year-old Hein Achira, was injured but survived, according to UPI. 
 
 
 
 A tourist jumps from a terrace at the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in Peru on Dec. 2, 2010. 
 
 That August, an Argentine tourist died after falling into an abyss near Machu Picchu. And that fall, two tourists — another Argentine and a Dane — died after suffering heart attacks while visiting the temple. 
 
 In May 2014, a Belgian man died while ascending Huayna Picchu. 
 
 Wednesday’s death appears to be the first linked to photography at Machu Picchu. 
 
 According to Guillermo Mestas, the Peruvian witness, a park ranger was roughly 20 feet from the German tourist when he fell. 
 
 The incident occurred on a sunny day around noon on a flat area atop the Machu Picchu mountain overlooking the citadel, Mestas told Canal N. 
 
 “He was at the edge with his back to the abyss, taking a photo of himself,” Mestas said of the German. The man then asked a stranger to snap a photo of him mid-air, but he never got the chance to jump. 
 
 Mestas said the German fell about 10 feet, hit a narrow ledge and kept falling. 
 
 “What happens is that many tourists from all over, especially foreigners, always get very close to the edge of the abysses even though the park rangers are always asking them to back up,” the Peruvian told Canal N. 
 
 “It seems like his desire to get the best photo led to this accident.” 
 
 Correction: An earlier version of this story inaccurately reported Rachel Cecilia Ianni’s name. It has been corrected. 
 
 Read more about the dangers of selfies: 
 
 Endangered baby dolphin dies after swimmers pass it around for selfies 
 
 Another reason why taking selfies with adorable wild animals is a terrible idea 
 
 No, selfies have not killed more people than sharks. That’s ridiculous. ||||| Image caption More than one million visitors made the journey to Machu Picchu in 2014 alone 
 
 The body of a German tourist has been recovered from a ravine after he fell while visiting the ancient site of Machu Picchu in the Peruvian Andes. 
 
 Oliver Park, 51, ignored safety signs and warnings from wardens and went into a restricted area close to the edge of a cliff on Wednesday, officials say. 
 
 They say he tried to pose for a photograph of himself leaping as if in flight but lost his footing. 
 
 Rescuers found the body on Thursday and took it to a local police station. 
 
 Police said his body would be taken to a morgue in the city of Cusco. ||||| German tourist dies on Machu Picchu June 30, 2016 Flor Bojorquez Tragedy strikes for a German tourist visiting the mountain of Machu Picchu. 
 
 (Photo: El Comercio) 
 
 Oliver Park, a 51 year old German, died after falling into an abyss with a depth of 100 meters while visiting Machu Picchu in Cusco. While another tourist took his photo on the edge of a hill, the victim had lost his balance and fell causing his untimely death. 
 
 According to the Regional Culture-Cusco, prior to the incident, the man had taunted the safety measures and entered an area restricted to visitors due to the proximity of the ravine. 
 
 Rescuers retrieved the body at 4pm and transported it to a police station in a Machu Picchu village. The police informed that the remains of the German tourist will be taken to a morgue in the city of Cusco.
– It wasn't quite death-by-selfie, but it wasn't far off. Peru This Week reports that a German tourist died Wednesday while posing for a photo at Peru's famed Machu Picchu site. Oliver Park, 51, went into a restricted area of the mountainous tourist locale in the Andes, despite warning signs and instructions from wardens, reports the BBC. The news agency says that while posing for a photo at the edge of a ravine, Park apparently decided to jump in the air to make it look like he was flying. Instead, he ended up falling off the cliff. A witness gives a slightly different take to TV station Canal N, as translated by the Washington Post: "He asked a man who was there to take a photo of him," recounts the Peruvian tourist. "The man came over to take the photo and in the moment he was handing him the camera, he lost his balance and fell.” Both accounts agree that Park had ventured into an area of Machu Picchu, home to an ancient Incan citadel, that's supposed to be off limits to tourists. His body was recovered Thursday. (In 2014, Machu Picchu was plagued by streakers.)