It’s bad to speak ill of the deceased, but can we agree that some online challenges are stupid?
There was the ice and salt challenge, which was purely painful, the knife song game that probably lopped off a few fingers, and Tide-pods (detergent) eating challenge landed quite a few children in the hospital.
But none was so death-defying as the Malaikat Maut Challenge, which loosely translates to “The Angel of Death Challenge”, that involves jumping in front of a moving truck.
Expecting a truck driver, who already has issues seeing the lower perspective due to their higher point of elevation, to react in time and brake when someone suddenly jumps onto the road, is not a test of dumb luck, but pure idiocy.
For one 18-year-old Indonesian boy, this stunt took his life.
The “Angel of Death” Challenge
According to the Indonesian media outlet Kompas, the 18-year-old boy was not the first casualty of this internet trend.
To succeed in the Angel of Death Challenge, the person must jump in front of the moving truck and the truck must stop before it hits the participant.
On 3 June, Coconut Jakarta reported a group of three boys in Tangerang, Benten, attempting the challenge.
One of the boys failed to get out of the way in time, causing him to collide directly into the truck and his body subsequently rolled under the vehicle.
The 18-year-old boy died instantaneously.
The driver of the truck is under police custody for questioning.
A video of the accident was uploaded onto Twitter, albeit heavily censored.
According to an uncredited WhatsApp source, the translation of the tweet reads:
“A teenager who recklessly stopped in front of a moving truck at Jl. Otista, Karawaci in the town of Tangerang has died on Friday morning (3 June).
“Just yesterday, there was a raid, and they’re causing trouble again. More than ten of them gathered. One died after he was hit by the container.”
I don’t know if these kids have been reading too many Isekai novels but getting hit by Truck-kun does not transport you to another fantastical world; reality is a cruel mistress and death is an irreversible ending.
The day before (2 June), two boys tried the same challenge in Bandung, West Java.
The 14-year-old boy who didn’t manage to get out of the way in time ended up in the hospital with a skull fracture. It has also been said that his teeth were shattered during the accident.
Reportedly, the truck driver in the second accident has gone into hiding, and may face criminal charges for the hit-and-run because he didn’t cooperate with the initial police investigations.
Pick your challenges properly, readers.
You really only die once.
Featured Image: Twitter (@AboutTNG)