A 24-year-old student has died after falling more than 300 feet from a cliff while trying to take photos at a popular lookout spot, authorities said.
The tragic fall happened Sunday in Russia’s Irkutsk region at the White Cliffs near the city of Usolye-Sibirskoye.
According to a regional branch of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, the woman had been standing on a rocky ledge taking pictures when she tried to climb back down.
That is when the ground beneath her reportedly gave way.
The student plunged about 330 feet from the cliff and suffered severe injuries.
Emergency crews tried to save her, but she died in an ambulance while being taken to the hospital.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the fatal fall. Witnesses are still being interviewed, and officials are deciding whether a criminal case should be opened.
The area where the woman fell is near the Belaya River and is known as a popular tourist spot.
Her death is part of a disturbing string of recent fatal falls from cliffs, caves and mountain areas in Russia.
In April, a local resident in Sochi died after falling from a viewing platform on the side of a cliff. Another 24-year-old woman died in a separate incident at Dragon’s Mouth cave near the Adler district after falling while climbing down.
Last year, a 21-year-old tourist was killed in the mountains near Lake Baikal after trying to leap across a crevice.
The tragedy also comes as authorities in Scotland believe they have found the body of missing American hiker Timothy Rosser, 60, who vanished while hiking the dangerous Aonach Eagach ridge.
Police Scotland said the death is not believed to be suspicious, though formal identification had not yet been completed.
