Couple Swept Away by Giant Wave While Trying to Take Selfies

This is the terrifying moment a monster wave wipes out two people trying to take a selfie together at a scenic ocean spot in Sydney, Australia.

The man and woman had been enjoying the wild weather and watching on as giant 4.1 meter swells crashed against Nobbys Breakwall in Newcastle, north of Sydney in the early morning.

The couple attempted to take a selfie against the dramatic backdrop, but moments later the pair were suddenly washed away by a monster wave as they posed for the photo.

The man and woman disappeared into the whitewash with the harrowing moment captured on camera by shocked bystanders. According to witnesses, the selfie-taking duo had tried to run away as the freak wave smashed into them but were helpless against the huge swells.

Miraculously the couple survived. The pair managed to clamber back up the rocks and made it back to safety on the shore, where they were treated by paramedics before being taken to the hospital with multiple injuries, including suspected fractures. Paramedics said the man, who is in his forties, and the woman, who is in her thirties, were lucky to be alive.

“I realized they disappeared and went down, where they were scrambling onto the rocks,” bystander Ben Arkinstall, who filmed the footage, told NBN News in an interview.

‘Several waves came in behind the original wave and kept coming over the top of them. It could have been a lot worse. They may have ended up in the ocean. They lost all of their phones,” Arkinstall adds.

Although the couple did lose their phones in the ordeal, they narrowly escaped with their lives. “Death by Selfie” has become a modern phenomenon and it has been widely reported that selfies cause more deaths now than shark attacks.

An American tourist was lucky to be alive this weekend when he was rescued after he ignored signs and fell into Mount Vesuvius as he was taking a selfie.