The man is believed to have been taking a selfie at the Agios Georgios church on Lycabettus Hil, Athens’ highest point, when he was knocked over by ‘strong winds’
A tourist has been rushed to hospital after he plunged from a church at the top of Athens’ highest point after being ‘swept by winds’ while taking a selfie.
The incident unfolded at the Agios Georgios church on Lycabettus Hill yesterday morning. The man, reportedly aged between 25 and 30, was said to be taking a photograph when he fell from the edge of the church courtyard onto rocks and stone-paved steps below. Police, a motorcycle unit and ambulance crews attended the scene and the man was taken to hospital, where he remains in a stable condition. Agios Georgios – a popular landmark in the Greek capital – was closed to visitors yesterday in the aftermath of the incident. It comes after a mum a left 16-month-old home alone to die when she went on holiday.
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One eyewitness told Newsbomb : “A tourist woman came and told us that a man had fallen onto the landing and asked us to call EKAB. We stayed with him until the rescuers arrived. They took him away conscious and transferred him to the hospital.”
Another said “He was sitting on the ledge outside the church, and people saw him fall. I wasn’t there at the moment—it was a tourist who told me. I went and saw him lying there, bleeding. It was a bit hard to watch.”
The man was said to be “conscious” and “blinking his eyes” when the ambulance arrived, according to witnesses.
It is only the latest injury said to be linked to selfie-taking. In May, an American tourist was left seriously injured after impaling himself on a metal fence whilst taking a selfie at Rome’s Colosseum.
The man, a US citizen living in Taiwan, had climbed up one of the railings between the Colosseum’s seven-metre long arches but slipped and fell onto a sharp metal spike, which pierced his spine – leaving him dangling from the fence screaming until he fell unconscious.