VIRAL VIDEO: Police Reportedly Shared Atleast 4 People Have Died Doing The TikTok Boat Jumping Challenge

Police reportedly shared atleast 4 people have died doing the TikTok boat jumping challenge. (Read More Here).

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, ususally 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.

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.

TikTok footage of the craze shows people throwing themselves from the rear of fast moving boats into white water. Searching for the “boat jump challenge” on TikTok brings up videos showing people jumping off a moving boat feet first.

“It is going to be like you have fallen from heights on a concrete sidewalk,” said Gail Kulp, Executive Director of the Sea Tow Foundation. “Water is not soft to land on when you are going at speed.”

Some videos on social media are recent, others are a few years old.

“You are going to end up with a broken neck, you are going to end up with broken bones,” said Kulp. “If you are not wearing a life jacket when you do it, by the time the boat circles back around to come get you most likely you will have drowned.”

Some Rhode Island boaters are surprised by the trend. Boat launches across the ocean state are busy this time of year.

“I think that is pretty unsafe,” said Elliot Lafond, a boater. “I mean jumping out of anything moving is pretty unsafe, especially if you don’t know what you are doing.”

“I think TikTok trends are taken real literally, and some things just shouldn’t be replicated,” said Collin Paquin, another boater.

If you are going out on the water, there are a few things experts said you can do to stay safe. Have a sober skipper, know where you are traveling, and always carry a radio.

NBC 10 asked boaters at Goddard Memorial State Park what they do to keep safe.