Two social media influencers drowned in a boating accident off the Brazilian coast after they refused to wear lifejackets, The Post reports.
Aline Tamara Moreira de Amorim, 37, and Beatriz Tavares da Silva Faria, 27, ignored pleas to wear their life jackets when an overcrowded vessel taking them back to shore capsized in the rough waters of Devil’s Throat along the Iguazu River.
In an interview with G1 Globe’s TV Tribuna, Sao Vicente’s Police Commissioner Marcos Alexandre Alfino cited a testimony by the boat’s captain and said that the two influencers refused to wear their life preservers “because they were taking selfies.”
“They said that they get in the way of their tanning,” Alfino added of the women who boarded the speedboat after attending a party held on a luxury yacht with friends off the coast of Sao Paulo on September 29.
In his statement to the police, the speedboat captain – who wasn’t identified – claimed he was ordered to transport six influencers, despite only having a maximum capacity of five, leaving the vessel unable to navigate the dangerous waves that inundated the boat and threw the passengers into the wild waters.
He also claimed he tried desperately to save his passengers but could only retrieve some of the survivors from the sea. Aline and Beatriz refused to wear their life vests, believing it’d impact their selfies and tans.
Beatriz’s body was recovered by Brazil’s Maritime Firefighters after it drifted out, authorities said. Aline’s body was found washed up on the coast of Itaquitanduva Beach a week later.
“All this is being determined very calmly to conclude if the fatalities were based on recklessness or negligence,” Police Chief Alfino explained.
Vanessa Audrey da Silva, one of the five survivors, recalled putting on her life jacket in a frenzy and clutching onto a rock after the boat started sinking. Vanessa was able to hold on until help arrived for rescue.
“There was a moment in the water when no one could see anyone,” she said. “I was fighting for my life.”
Another survivor Camila says she clutched a life vest and clung on for dear life until she was rescued: “There were very strong waves, we almost died. We didn’t know how to swim.”
“I knew that I couldn’t take it for long. I hurt my foot and swallowed a lot of water. We threw ourselves into the rocks.”
