In Turkey, as in several other countries around the world, people have been forced to stay at home by government guidelines. With loosening restrictions on the horizon, some have started preemptively celebrating.
One poor soul died suddenly during her celebration, and will never see the freedoms she so looked forward to.
Olesia Suspitsina was from Kazakhstan, but lived in Antalya, Turkey, when the virus began to sweep the globe.
Like most Turks, Suspitsina spent weeks shuttered at home under national guidelines imposed to slow the spread of the virus in the country.
So when reports began to surface that Turkey hoped to ease restrictions by mid-May, Suspitsina and friends felt a skip in their steps.
While hanging out in a park and video chatting with some friends, Suspitsina edged her way toward the cliffs to get an impressive photograph.
Her friend, the one behind the camera, explained to News 1 how the day turned tragic in a moment.
"We came to the park in the evening. We drank wine. Then we were talking to a friend with a video. When Olesia was talking on video, she asked me to take a picture of herself."
"She fell while looking for a place on the cliffs to take pictures."
According to Sputnik Turkey, that friend called the police. Her body was retrieved from the water 115 feet below and sent to the Antalya Forensic Medicine Institute morgue, where her death was ruled an accident.
When she died, Suspitsina was doing something she had done before. Other photos on her Facebook page feature selfies atop cliffs with impressive views.
New York Post reports that a now-private Instagram post of hers expressed her love for the natural surroundings of the place she lived before she died:
"I will always admire the beauty of the Turkish nature. This is my paradise."
Her Facebook page has quickly transformed into a bulletin board of grieving support.
Otimar Santos/Facebook
Candace Howard/Facebook
Denise Esterline/Facebook
Milada Kesmer/Facebook
The tragedy offers a reminder of the non-virus dangers that we still face in life even when the pandemic has come and gone, whenever that will be.
