Advertisement

Chinese influencer falls to her death from crane while filming live video

A Chinese influencer who was popular on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has died after falling from a crane during a live stream to fans.

Xiao Qiumei, 23, was a professional crane operator and regularly shared videos from work. She tragically fell almost 49 metres after reportedly missing a step.

According to The Sun, witnesses saw Ms Qiumei fall from the crane with her phone still in her hand on Tuesday, July 20, at about 5:40 pm (local time). Most of her coworkers had already gone home.

The Chinese influencer fell to her death after falling almost 49 metres from a crane.
The Chinese influencer fell to her death after falling almost 49 metres. Source: Weibo

Video shared online of her accident

The video of the influencer falling is being shared on Chinese social media, showing a blurry video before coming to a stop on the ground looking up at the equipment.

However her family are claiming that she would not have had her phone with her or been filming at work, saying she kept her mobile phone in her bag during working hours.

The family did report the young mother-of-two — who had over 100,000 followers on the social media platform — fell after missing a step on the crane machinery.

According to The Sun and several other outlets, the local government department in Jiangshan City, Quzhou confirmed that a female worker in her 20s did fall from a tower crane but the incident is still being investigated.

The 23-year-old was reportedly live streaming herself on the crane at the time. Source: Weibo
The 23-year-old was reportedly live streaming herself on the crane at the time. Source: Weibo

Influencers have fallen to their death while trying to take the perfect selfie

It's not the first time a social media star has suffered a tragic accident while filming content for their account.

Earlier in the month, Instagram travel influencer Sophia Cheung died after falling from the top of a waterfall.

The 32-year-old was hiking with friends at Ha Pak Lai park in Hong Kong when they stopped to take photos at a popular scenic lookout, leading to the tragedy.

Ms Cheung was posing for a photo on the ledge of Tsing Dai stream near Yuen Long, when she lost her footing and and fell nearly five metres into the pool below.

A 23-year-old woman recently died in Mexico after also falling eight metres off the edge of a waterfall and getting swept away by the current. Her body was found the next day.

Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.

You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.