Tourists allow baby to crawl to edge of 1,982ft Pulpit Rock ledge for photograph

Baby crawls to edge of Pulpit Rock in Norway

This is the shocking moment a family placed its baby on the edge of the 1,982ft Pulpit Rock - to get a picture for the family holiday album.

Hiker Fred Sirevag was shocked by what he was witnessing on Saturday afternoon at Preikestolen – known as Pulpit Rock – in Forsand, Norway.

He took a picture of the baby crawling perilously close to the edge of the rock.

According to the Metro, he said: "I saw the mother and she was putting the baby down close to the edge and backing up a little bit so the other lady could get a clean photo of the baby and the Pulpit Rock in the background.

"It's a straight drop. You don't want to go too close because it's pretty scary. You'd be pretty much dead if you fall down there."

'You'd be pretty much dead if you fall down': Hiker says couple placed baby on edge of cliff to snap a souvenir photo pic.twitter.com/IUqofcJWgy
- Chris Kitching (@chriskitching) September 16, 2014

Speaking to the Daily Mail, he added: "I think they put the baby at great risk. A baby can easily tip around and it's really unpredictable and you never know when that will happen.

"If the baby fell away from the mummy I don't know if she could have caught the baby.

"I thought this was such a crazy thing to do that people should know about this. It should never happen."

According to mashable.com, Preben Falck, the general manager of the Stavanger Tourist Association in Norway, said visitors to Preikestolen should exercise caution.

"I have taken my children to Preikestolen and kept them at a safe distance away from the edge," he said. "All parents are different, but I wouldn't look after my children like that."

Back in October 2013, a Spanish man became the first person to die at Norway's famous 1,982ft tourist attraction.

The holidaymaker reportedly disappeared off the side of the steep mountain plateau while taking photos.

Preikestolen, in English known as Preacher's Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, is a cliff that hangs 600 metres above Lysefjorden, East of Stavanger. Even though a two-hour hike is required to get there, it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Norway.

According to News In English, Kjell Helle Olsen, a former leader of the local hiking association, Stavanger Turistforening, told Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK): "We've always feared that this could happen. It's tragic, but this is something we figured could happen."