A TikTok boat jumping challenge that sees people jump from the rear of the vessels while moving at high speed has been blamed for four deaths in Alabama. The challenge, which has been popularized on TikTok, involves individuals engaging in dangerous water activities.
Those participating in the challenge launch themselves from the rear of a boat and into the wake behind it, as the boat continues to move.
Now, officials in Alabama have said the new fad has claimed the lives of four people, after they broke their necks instantly. Officials said in the last six months, they had to deal with four drownings that were ‘easily avoidable’.
Those participating in the challenge launch themselves from the rear of a boat and into the wake behind it, as the boat continues to move
Captain Jim Dennis with the Childersburg Rescue Squad told WPDE said: ‘Last six months we have had four drownings that were easily avoidable. ‘They were doing a TikTok challenge. It’s where you get in a boat going at a high rate of speed, you jump off the side of the boat, don’t dive, you’re jumping off feet first and you just kinda lean into the water. The four that we responded to when they jumped out of the boat, they literally broke their neck and, you know, basically an instant death.’
Capt. Dennis continued: ‘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.
He said one incident was in February when the victim was a father with his three children, wife, and other loved ones in the boat – with his death being recorded.
WPDE said the most recent incident in Alabama occurred in May and involved a middle-aged man.
One video is believed to have been captured on Lake Norman, North Carolina, and shows five people jumping and black flipping into the water.
Social media users expressed their concern over the videos, citing the rest deaths related to the craze After the news from Alabama over recent days, the footage, which was originally shared in 2021, has been inundated with comments warning of the deaths.
One person commented: ‘That’s so dangerous, not cool.’ Another posted: ‘So dangerous! Four people have broken their necks and died from this.’
It is not the first trend to claim lives that has gone round the social media app, with two teens dying after participating in the Benadryl Challenge. It sees people, usually kids, swallow multiple antihistamine tablets to induce hallucinations before posting videos of their experience.
Jacob Stevens, 13, died in April of this year after Chloe Marie Phillips, 15, died in August 2020 after partaking in the trend.