Students, 19, fall from four-storey rooftop taking selfie at party

Two university students have fallen from a four-storey high rooftop while taking selfies at a party.

Police were called to an off-campus apartment about 2am (local time) on Saturday, where students from Temple University in Philadelphia were gathered on a rooftop, US news outlet WPVI reported.

The two women who fell from the rooftop and on to the path below were both 19 years old, police said, and they were taking selfies at the time of the fall.

One of the girls remains in a critical, yet stable, condition at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, with injuries to multiple parts of her body.

The other girl suffered injuries to her leg and ankle and is in a stable condition at Temple Medical Center.

Students who have been on the rooftop before say it is not safe, despite the building’s management saying there is railing.

One student told WPVI the railing comes up halfway between your knee and hip.

Residents who live around the off-campus housing hope the incident is a “wake up call”, telling WPVI not even the coronavirus pandemic has stopped students from partying.

The US continues to lead the world in both coronavirus cases and related deaths.

There have been more than 7.4 million coronavirus cases in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University data, and more than 200,000 deaths.

The state of Pennsylvania, where the Temple University party took place, has more than 166,000 cases and 8000 deaths.

Temple University has several Covid safeguards in place, to prevent the virus spreading, according to its website, there are 69 confirmed cases on campus, 68 of those cases being students.

Parties continue at universities despite Covid

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, parties have continued to take place particularly among university students abroad, despite the best efforts from establishments to ban them.

Earlier in September, a student at Ohio’s Miami University offered a baffling excuse as to why he hosted a party at his home, despite testing positive for Covid.

“Are you supposed to be quarantining?” the officer asks after checking the student’s name and discovering he recently tested positive.

“That’s why I’m at my house,” the student responds.

In another video that circulated on social media showed a student, believed to be from Texas Tech, bragging about having Covid while at a party.

“Yes I f***ing have COVID!” the woman says in the video.

“The whole f***ing world has COVID. All of these people have COVID.”

While cases spike among Florida State University students at the end of September, police busted up a party at an off-campus student apartment complex that involved about 700 vehicles and more than 1,000 attendees.

Back in July, Tulane University issued a stern warning to students about the upcoming semester, saying parties with more than 15 people including the host could see people face expulsion or suspension.

Cornell University students must agree not to organise, host or attend events that may cause “safety risks” to people under a school compact released this week.

University of Pennsylvania students are warned in the school’s compact that alcohol and drugs are not an excuse for risky COVID-19-related behaviour.

Meanwhile Syracuse University’s pledge includes commitments to get a flu shot and to avoid going to social gatherings with more than 25 people.

Though some pointed out the safeguards university’s put in place were contradictory of the college experience – cramped housing and intense social activity.

“The majority of kids who go to college are civic-minded, responsible people. They’re also young,” Scott Galloway, professor of marketing at New York University, told the Associated Press back in August.

“If some of them don’t comply, it’s a problem. And I think some to many will have a difficult time ignoring every instinct pulsing through their body at that age that they’re supposed to socialise and find mates.”

With Associated Press

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