A WOMAN tragically fell to her death from a balcony of the 27th floor of a high-rise block in Panama after she lost her balance while taking a selfie.

The 27-year-old, named locally as Sandra Manuela Da Costa Macedo, went over a balcony railing she was leaning against as she took the snap.

Paramedics rushed to the scene, a building called the Luxor Tower in Panama City, after the alarm was raised just after 10 a.m. Saturday. The woman was already dead when they arrived.

Shocking footage showed the 27-year-old plunging to her death while still clutching the selfie stick.

She had been sitting on the railing when she fell backwards from the high rise.

Sandra — believed to be a Portuguese — is understood to be a teacher and mom-of-two who was working in the country.

A devastated friend wrote on Instagram: “This woman was a very good friend of mine, a mother of two children. She was a teacher and she was in Panama to work in her chosen profession.”

According to local reports, nearby construction workers had shouted to her to get off the railing but strong winds meant she couldn’t hear them.

Erick Alzate, a witness who lives in the block, said: “I live here in the tower where she fell. She had been taking selfies for a couple of minutes and construction workers on a block opposite were shouting to her to be careful. She decided to sit on the railing for the last selfie and that’s when she went over the edge.”

Panama’s Fire Service published a warning on its official Twitter site after the tragedy which said: “Don’t risk your life for a selfie. It’s more important to lose a minute in life than your life in a minute.”

The horror is being investigated by cops, who believe a gust of wind may have knocked her off balance.

A shocking study released last month found between 2011 and 2017, 259 people were accidentally killed while taking selfies worldwide.

The most common way people die is by drowning, being hit by traffic or falling.

(SD-Agencies)