Venice Gondola Capsizes After Chinese Tourists Refuse To Sit Down And Stop Taking Selfies

A group of tourists in Venice found themselves in cold water after their gondola capsized in an Italian canal. According to The Guardian, the group from China had been moving around the gondola to take selfies rather than following the gondolier's guidance to stay seated. The gondolier had been navigating the boat under a low bridge near St Mark's Square when it overturned. The gondolier fell into the murky, cold canal himself before trying to help rescue the others. 

The whole incident was captured on video and shared widely online. The footage shows the tourists clinging to the side of the flipped vessel or swimming to passing boats after the plunge into the Venice waters. 

A post on the Instagram page of Venezia Non e Disneyland (Venice Is Not Disneyland) said the group was brought to safety and provided with "hospitality and warmth" in the nearby La Fenice theatre.

In the comment section of the post, internet users seemed to have very little sympathy for the Chinese tourists. "That's what happens when you can't follow simple instructions," wrote one user. "They were told what to do...they ignored the rules....Enjoy being wet," said another. 

Notably, since 2020, gondola tours have decreased passenger capacity because of "overweight tourists" with gondola da parades, which is used to take passengers across the Grand Canal, now seating only 12. 

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Meanwhile, this is not the first time taking selfies has posed a health hazard to tourists. Earlier this year, a tourist in Italy fell into a crater on Mount Vesuvius when he was attempting to take a selfie at the volcano's peak and his phone fell out of his hands. 

Elsewhere, a woman was caught posing for photographs while hanging off a railing on a Royal Caribbean ship and was banned for life by the cruise company for "recklessly and dangerously posing for a photo". 

According to The Independent, too many dangerous selfies also forced the closure of the outdoor carriage on New Zealand's Coastal Pacific train in 2019 after travellers put their lives at risk by leaning out of the carriage to take selfies, photos and videos of the landscape.