A romantic getaway in Luxembourg turned tragic for one couple earlier this week when a woman fell 100 feet to her death while trying to take a selfie. Zoe Snoeks posed for a selfie at the edge of a cliff in Nardin, a village in Belgium, on Tuesday. The 33-year-old fell from the cliff, landing in the Ourthe River, according to Newsflash, citing local officials.
Her body was found by a team that included police officers, firefighters, scuba divers and members of Belgium’s Groupe de Recherche et d’Intervention en Milieu Perilleux (Perilous Environment Reconnaissance and Intervention Group), reports the New York Post. Snoek’s husband, Joeri Janssen, told Newsflash the couple drove to the romantic area on Sunday in their camper van.
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“Since the pandemic, it was our little thing to drive across Europe in our van and take beautiful photos,” Janssen said. The couple, who married in 2012, also brought their dogs with them. They planned to drive back to their home in Limburg, The Netherlands the day Snoeks died. “We got up very early to take pictures of the Herou,” he said. “There is almost always mist there. It’s great for photos. We arrived before 9 a.m.”
Before Snoeks took went to take the fateful photos, she asked Janssen to keep an eye on the dogs, her husband said. When he turned back to where his wife was standing, she was gone. “She had just vanished. It must have happened in less than five seconds,” Janssen told Newsflash. “I didn’t see or hear anything. No rustling, no screams or shouts. I looked up and saw only dust,” he said. “I called her even though I knew it was hopeless. The chasm was several tens of meters deep.”
Janssen tried to call emergency services right away, but there was only a weak signal in the area. He spoke to an operator, but they couldn’t understand him. He then rushed to a nearby hotel for help. Although the rescue team did not find Snoeks’ body immediately, they believed she was dead, Janssen said. “Taking photos was her passion. I immediately unlocked her phone and saw that she had taken a photo on the cliff edge. Her very last selfie,” he said of his wife. “Zoe is looking straight ahead. You can also see the mist and the river where they finally found her body.”
Snoeks had over 3,600 Instagram followers. She posted her final photo, a picture taken in Le Tombeau Du Géant in Belgium, on Tuesday, the same day she died. On Wednesday, her family posted a message confirming her death. The statement, written in Dutch, notes that a memorial was scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 9.
