ASTONISHING pictures show what appears to be a mother and dad with tot on his shoulders taking selfies when standing precariously close to the edge of the 80ft ‘Broadchurch cliffs’.
A shocked onlooker witnessed the woman sat on raised rock perilously near the drop taking a photo of herself at West Bay in Dorset.
Nearby a man stood with a child on his shoulders uses a self stick to capture the moment, despite numerous signs warning the fragile state of rocks leads to regular rock falls.
West Bay is the real-life setting for the hit TV crime drama Broadchuch, and the iconic sandy cliffs provide an incredible backdrop.
The third series is now running, prompting a horde of tourists to flock to the area and authorities have previously issued warnings to take care near the cliffs.
One holidaymaker was crushed to death by a rock fall at West Bay in July 2012, while a crowd of tourists on a beach fled for safety in August last year during another collapse.
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Mark Collins, of the West Bay coastguards, said: “I find it unbelievable that even with all the warnings a family will risk their lives, the lives of their children that they are forcing in to the unsafe area and the lives of people below and also all the rescue services just to take a picture.
“The worst thing about these photos is that they are sitting on a ledge with very little below them.
“If there was an accident the first thing that would be said is ‘why are there no warnings?'”
Photographer Graham Hunt, who watched the incident, said: “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing when the woman sat down right at the edge of the cliff to take a selfie.
“The rock face there crumbles all the time, it could easily have happened at that moment.
“The man had a young child sat on his shoulders.
“He was at least stood a bit further back but he was still very close when he took his selfie.”
Selfie loving tourists have recently captured posing on the brink of a crumbling cliff top in the Seven Sisters national park in East Sussex, including young Korean visitors.
Since March 2014 127 people have been killed taking selfies worldwide according to researchers.
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