They are photographs that freeze time, images captured in a heartbeat now immortalised as eerie memorials to lives lost. From smiling selfies to candid snaps, these final photos of people taken mere moments before their deaths are as haunting as they are heart-wrenching. Some show couples in high spirits, laughing with loved ones and enjoying holidays, unaware of the cruel twist fate was about to deliver. Others appear unsettling in hindsight with shaking helicopters and locations that would later become scenes of unimaginable tragedy. In one chilling case, a grinning newly-wed husband and wife were pictured leaving their reception just moments before they were mowed down by a drunk driver. The bride died instantly. Just earlier this week, a TikTok beauty influencer was shot dead during a livestream after a gun-wielding motorbike rider sped past her salon and blasted her three times in the head and chest. Last month, a couple posted a tragic last selfie on social media just moments before they were killed by a twister at a Brazil waterfall. These pictures – collected from archives, families, and online sources – are more than just macabre curiosities. They’re painful reminders of life’s fragility, the randomness of death, and the poignant beauty of a moment frozen in time. Behind every image lies a story, a family in mourning, and a life cut short. Bride in chopper before fatal crash on way to wedding A bride was killed minutes before her wedding when the helicopter taking her to the altar as a surprise for her husband-to-be crashed just a few miles from the ceremony. Rosemere do Nascimento Silva, from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was killed in December 2016 along with three others - the pilot Peterson Pinheiro, her brother Silvano Nascimento da Silva, and a photographer, Nayla Cristina Neves, who was six months pregnant. The 32-year-old's fiancé, Udirley Damasceno, was left waiting at the wedding venue unaware of what she was planning to do, or of the fatal air crash. Footage of the moment the helicopter went down, released as part of the investigation into the crash, was shared online by local news channels. In the clip, the beautiful bride looks happy and excited as she looks out of the window of the Robinson 44 helicopter. But when an alarm goes off and the picture begins to shake, the doomed helicopter passengers can be heard screaming in panic. The camera smashes but continues to record after it hits the ground with a huge impact. The distraught bridegroom was told the news at the altar by the pastor and was said to have gone into total shock. There were 300 guests at the wedding but only about six of them knew about the surprise. The helicopter crashed about a mile from the wedding venue in a forest area near a main road. The journey would normally have taken just 15 minutes. Eight fire engines rushed to the scene but nothing could be done to save the four occupants. Bride and groom mowed down by drunk driver on wedding day A newlywed bride was killed and the groom left in critical condition after they were hit by a speeding drunk driver when they left their wedding reception in a golf cart in 2023. Samantha Miller, 34, and Aric Hutchinson, 36, celebrated their nuptials moments before they were allegedly rear-ended by Jamie Komoroski, 25, at Folly Beach, South Carolina. Heartbreaking pictures showed the happy couple moments before tragedy struck, beaming as they were waved off by their guests with sparklers. The 'sweet' newlyweds and two other occupants of the buggy were inside the vehicle when it rolled several times over 100 yards, killing the bride instantly. Komoroski was allegedly traveling at 65mph in a 25mph zone and was drunk behind the wheel of a rented Toyota Camry, according to Folly Beach Police. Aric was left in critical condition, and immediately after the incident it was unclear whether he knew his wife had died, as he had been in a critical condition since the crash. Samantha and Aric were being escorted by his brother-in-law Ben Garrett and nephew Brogan when they were also allegedly hit by Komoroski. Ben was seriously injured. Komoroski was the sole occupant of the vehicle when she rear-ended the cart and was charged with three counts of felony DUI resulting in great bodily harm or death and one count of reckless homicide. TikTok star shot dead by motorbike-riding gunman while live streaming A Mexican beauty influencer was brutally murdered in May this year while live streaming to her followers after a motorbike-riding gunman opened fire on her salon. Footage shows the horrific moment 23-year-old TikToker and aesthetician Valeria Marquez was shot multiple times while broadcasting live from inside her beauty salon, Blossom the Beauty Lounge, in the western Mexican state of Jalisco. The video shows a smiling Valeria looking out of the window momentarily before bullets strike her once in the chest and twice in the head. The influencer appears to place a hand over the gunshot wound near her ribcage before dropping dead. An unknown woman then appears in the clip, seemingly turning off the video. Initial reports said that a gunman entered her salon and shot her before fleeing on a motorbike. Paramedics rushed to the bloody scene, but Valeria was pronounced dead immediately. Couples tragic last post before being killed by twister at waterfall A young couple posted a tragic selfie just moments before they were killed by a twister at a waterfall. Leone Barbosa, 38, and Thássia de Almeida, 36, were swimming in the waterfall's plunge pool when they were surprised by a flash flood last month. The victims were with a group of 12 people and a tour guide when they were swept to their deaths. They found themselves stranded from the others in the rapidly rising body of water. Barbosa and Almeida disappeared at the Bocaína Waterfall in the Serra do Intendente State Park located north of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The guide and two group members immediately left the others to contact the emergency services. They called the fire brigade at around 7pm. Due to the difficult terrain, the rescue team didn't arrive at the scene until around 1:45am that night. Emergency workers found the other group members who were uninjured but in a state of shock. They had to wait until dawn to make the return journey with the distraught group members, meanwhile, firefighters continued searching for the missing couple. Their bodies were found the following day at around midday on April 20. As a result, the Fire Department and the Minas Gerais State Forestry Institute decided to temporarily close the area of Peixe Tolo Canyon. Just before they were swept to their deaths, the couple posed for a selfie in the State Park. Thássia said: 'Planting another seed in our garden of memories.' They were tragically killed just moments later. Security guard's final video message to family kidnap and execution Chilling footage, which saw a security guard asking his loved ones to give him a call, became the last video of him and his colleagues alive before they were kidnapped and executed in a bitter turf war between rival mining operations. The 13 men were private security guards working for the mining company R&R in northern Peru. They had been deployed to protect a remote gold mining site in the mountainous Pataz province, where operations include both legal and illegal players, when they were seized and executed by a rival gang. The video shows a man in black combat fatigues, armed and using a selfie stick to film a message, seemingly for a family member. He tells them to call him, but it is unclear if anyone ever did. The fugitive known as 'Cuchillo' believed to have masterminded the murder fled the country after the cold-blooded execution of the guards in the violent turf war over mining territory. The killings happened in Pataz, with the bodies discovered inside the NV 2520 mine shaft in the Santa María annex near Trujillo on May 4 this year. The group had reportedly been re-assigned to a more vulnerable area of the mine after a gunfight on April 25 between guards working for R&R and a group of armed men led by Miguel Antonio Rodriguez Diaz, alias 'Cuchillo.' An informant told police that five people from Cuchillo's rival group were killed in that earlier clash. In apparent retaliation, Cuchillo's men captured and executed the 13 guards. Police said these kinds of confrontations often end in executions or hostages used for negotiations between rival mining gangs. Cuchillo fled to Colombia the day after the killings on May 5, according to migration records. The Peruvian mayor of Pataz later accused the state of being complicit in his escape. The fugitive is also suspected in the killing of nine workers at the La Poderosa mine in November 2023. He is currently wanted for extortion, and for crimes involving explosives, but remains at large. Two OAP sisters die in car crash just minutes after taking a selfie Earlier this month, two elderly sisters died in a car crash just minutes after sharing a selfie from their vehicle. Miriam and Gladys De la Torre were travelling on Route 88 in Argentina when their Renault Clio collided head-on with a Citroen Basalt driven by Laura Evangelina Gomez, a 45-year-old woman from Necochea, who also died at the scene on May 1. The sisters, aged 62 and 67 respectively, had reportedly sent a selfie to relatives shortly before the crash, showing them smiling inside the car as they departed Mar del Plata. However, despite concerns about using mobile phones while driving, police are looking into suspicions that another vehicle was involved after reports that a dark-coloured pickup truck may have caused the accident. Police believe this other vehicle made a dangerous manoeuvre that forced Gomez’s car into the path of the De la Torre sisters' vehicle. Patricio De la Torre, son of Gladys, told local media that the truck fled the scene and has not yet been identified. Police are appealing for witnesses who may have seen the truck or the events leading up to the crash. Father of groom dies in celebratory gun firing at wedding In a shocking incident in 2016, a man was killed in celebratory fire on his son's wedding in Madhya Pradesh, India. Mansoor Patel died on the spot after being hit by a bullet fired by members of the marriage party, an official posted at Badnagar Police station said at the time. Footage showed a dozen gun-wielding men gathered in a village preparing their rifles before the tragic accident took place. As the father stepped into the frame with his arms raised, the men around him fiddled with their weapons. But suddenly a shot is fired and the celebrating man is hit in the side of the head. He drops to the ground and the guests rush around him in a desperate bid to get him help, but it is too late.