Advertisement

Plane crashes off runway, evacuees take opportunity to Instagram, tweet selfies

An Instagram user shared this photo of a plane crash that occured on March 13, 2014. (Instagram/colinthompson11)

On Thursday evening at about 6:30 p.m., a U.S. Airways flight skidded off the runway at Philadelphia International Airport when the nose landing gear collapsed on takeoff. According to CBS Philly, a tire blew on the Airbus A320, and passengers were quickly evacuated. The airport says there are no reports of injuries.

Perhaps that’s why some people decided that it would be the perfect opportunity to share the unfortunate incident on social media.

Shortly after the incident, photos of people posing in front of the grounded plane and images of the plane awash in Instagram filters started showing up on social media, with these two immediately attracting widespread attention:

While no one was injured in the accident, it does raise some questions about the appropriateness of sharing these kinds of images on social media: On the one hand, these people are sharing a glimpse into their lives, which is what social media is for. Social media has also been an incredible tool in getting out breaking news fast, as was the case with this incident. Here’s another breaking image that was shared on Twitter, showing the safe evacuation of the passengers:

[ Related: New Tumblr compiles disturbing trend of funeral selfies ]

But how far is too far? Did the people taking the photos in front of the plane, or who selected just the right Instagram filter for their post cross some sort of moral line? There’s a great deal of disgust that seems to surface online whenever people post selfies and photos at what are deemed inappropriate places, as evidenced by these tumblrs dedicated to selfies taken at funerals, and selfies taken at serious places, like Chernobyl.

This isn’t even the first selfie taken at a plane crash: A man carrying his GoPro with him when he evacuated a plane that was crashing into the Pacific Ocean snapped a shot of the sinking airplane behind him while he floated in the water, waiting for help, Business Insider reports.

All of these examples come with some serious discomfort, which begs the question: When isn’t it appropriate to take a photo of what’s happening around you?

Want the latest buzz before it goes viral? Follow @YDailyBuzz on Twitter!