Alabama authorities reported that four persons recently succumbed to tragic deaths due to a new fatal TikTok craze.
According to Cpt Jim Dennis of the Childersburg Rescue Team, the thrill-seekers flipped or jumped off the backs of fast boats, only to break their necks and drown.
“Last six months we have had four drownings that were easily avoidable. They were doing a TikTok challenge. It’s where you get in a boat going at a high rate of speed, you jump off the side of the boat, don’t dive, you’re jumping off feet first and you just kinda lean into the water,” Dennis told WBMA.
TikTok Boat-jumping
Dennis stated that although the practice, known as boat jumping, has been a problem for first responders for the past two years, it has gotten worse recently.
The first victim, who was watching from inside the boat with his wife and their children, perished in February after falling into the Coosa River.
“Unfortunately, she recorded his demise,” Dennis lamented.
Despite the awful outcome, three more people disregarded rescuers’ warnings and met the same death.
“Instant death”
A TikTok search for “#boatjumping” or any combination of the two terms displays a flood of daredevils of all ages filming their potential brushes with what Dennis dubbed “instant death.”
“I think people are more likely to do something stupid if they’re being filmed on camera because they want to show off in front of their friends for social media,” Dennis said to ABC 7.
A hazardous landing pad that feels like concrete is created by the boat’s fast rate of speed and the motionless water.
Without protecting their neck and head, a person jumping from a moving boat risks becoming permanently paralyzed, if not almost certainly dying instantly.
Boaters are being urged by Dennis to steer clear of the fatal trend and to tell their loved ones not to join.
Don’t do it, he advised. He emphasized that the popularity they think they will gain is not worth the life they will lose.
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