Psy 'Gangnam Style' Death: UK Man Dies Doing Dance
A middle-aged man in the U.K. reportedly had a heart attack and died while doing the dance move made popular by Korean rapper Psy's "Gangnam Style". The married father of three collapsed during an office Christmas party and died at the scene.
Eamonn Kilbride, 46, experienced acute heart failure before collapsing right after doing the horse riding-like move known as "Gangnam Style", according to news reports. The incident happened at a gathering on Saturday at Whitehall Country Club in Darwen, Lancashire in England.
The Mirror Online reports that Kilbride's wife, Julie, tried to rouse her husband with CPR as did arriving paramedics, but to no avail. Kilbride was declared dead at Royal Blackburn Hospital 30 minutes before midnight.
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"He was a great family man and he worked so hard. Eamonn was always the life of the party and loved dancing," said Mrs. Kilbride of her late husband.
She explained, according to the Telegraph, that Kilbride had been on stage while dancing "Gangnam Style" and "entertaining everybody" when he complained of "a bit of pain and just collapsed."
The couple, married 23 years, have three children ranging in age from 18-22.
"He loved me dearly and would tell people all the time. I know he thought the world of us," said Mrs. Kilbride.
A doctor commenting on the case suggested that men dancing at Christmas parties should avoid straying "outside your comfort zone."
"The chance that you'll come to grief is very small," Professor Bernard Keavney, consultant cardiologist at Newcastle University, told The Daily Telegraph. "But as with any form of untypical exercise that you're not used to taking, be somewhat measured. Let the lady dance around you.
"I certainly wouldn't say that people need to avoid 'Gangnam Style' over the holidays. [But] if you're unused to taking vigorous physical exercise, you shouldn't throw yourself into violent exertion without due preparation," the cardiologist added.
The popular "Gangnam Style" dance, the video for which appears well on its way to hitting the one billion-viewer mark, has swept the world since its debut in late summer -- with everyone from politicians to heads of state reportedly doing the horse riding-like dance.
