The TikTok challenge has people jumping off the back of a high-speed boat, feet first. Some jump with their backs to the sea or lake, while others do backflips. — AP
Update: “On Monday, July 3, a news story was shared regarding “first responders warning against a deadly boating TikTok trend after recent drownings” in Alabama. However, please be advised the information released to the news outlet was incorrect. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency’s (ALEA) Marine Patrol Division does not have any record(s) of boating or marine-related fatalities in Alabama that can be directly linked to TikTok or a trend on TikTok. One individual was fatality injured after jumping from a moving vessel in 2020 and a similar marine-related fatality occurred in 2021, however, both fatalities cannot be linked to TikTok,” according to a statement from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
“It got blown way out of proportion,’’ Childersburg Rescue Squad Capt. Jim Dennis said of the publicity, which was even a topic of discussion Monday on the Today Show. “If there’s data supporting that (boat jumping deaths in Alabama), I don’t have that.” Dennis said he worked one death of someone jumping from a boat. “To say that’s the reason they died, I can’t say that,’’ he said. “That would be a matter of opinion.”
ALABAMA: At least four people have died in Alabama, United States, after taking on another deadly TikTok challenge, which had them jumping off the rear of a fast-moving boat.
State officials said all four died instantly after they broke their necks.
The TikTok challenge has people jumping off the back of a high-speed boat, feet first. Some jump with their backs to the sea or lake, while others do backflips.
“(In the) last six months, we have had four drownings that were easily avoidable,” Captain Jim Dennis, of the Childersburg Rescue Squad in Alabama, told ABC News affiliate WPDE-TV.
“They were doing a TikTok challenge. The four that we responded to, when they jumped out of the boat, they broke their necks and... basically an instant death,” he said.
He added: “I think people, if they’re being filmed on camera, I think they’re more likely to do something stupid because they want to show off in front of their friends for social media.”
Capt Dennis said one incident happened in February. The man who died was middle-aged, and had his wife and three children with him, and his wife was filming him as he launched himself off the back of the boat.
WPDE-TV reported that the most recent incident occurred in May, again involving a middle-aged man.
The two others who died doing the TikTok challenge were also men, it reported.
There have been other deadly TikTok challenges in the past.
In May, a 16-year-old girl in France died attempting the viral “scarf game” – a variation of TikTok’s deadly “blackout challenge” that has already claimed several lives.
The dangerous pursuit involves fastening cloth around the neck to asphyxiate oneself until passing out for alleged Internet clout.
Unfortunately, as with the “blackout challenge”, this exploit can restrict the oxygen flow to the brain, causing seizures, serious injury and even death.
Two teens, meanwhile, have died after participating in the “Benadryl challenge”.
It sees people, usually children, swallow multiple antihistamine tablets to induce hallucinations before posting videos of their experiences. – The Straits Times (Singapore)/Asia News Network
