Some things just start sometimes as fun but some also later turn to tragedy. Just like what happened to a man in Denver and a college student in Connecticut. The two people died on the same day but in a different time. Yet, the same setting, an eating contest.
According to ABC News, the man who died in the doughnut eating contest was identified to be Travis Malouff. The 42-year-old man was then reported to join the contest to finish a half-pound glazed doughnut in 80 seconds.
The doughnut eating contest was mentioned to happen in Denver and was hosted by Voodoo Doughnuts. Yet, after munching on some of the doughnuts, witnesses said that Malouff turned away from the counter, turned blue and then collapsed.
The paramedics arrived and did all things to clear Malouff’s airway. Yet, he died from “asphyxia due to obstruction of the airway” as the Denver Office of the Medical Examiner released in a statement. Malouff was then ruled by coroners and police to have died at the scene. His father Curtis Malouff then said that his son’s smile, laugh and willingness to try anything will be remembered.
Meanwhile, New York Post reported that on the same day, college student Caitlin Nelson, of Clark, New Jersey had choked to death after eating four or five pancakes. The pancake eating contest happened in Sacred Heart University in Connecticut.
“She starts to choke on pancake on someone recognized it — one of the nursing students at the competition — and she caught her and brought her slowly to the ground,” Fairfield police Lt. Robert Kalamaras stated. He then further explained that CPR was done and the officers showed up in less than two minutes.
Yet, amid all efforts of being rushed in St. Vincent’s Medical Center and transfer to the Columbia University Medical Center, Nelson died. The 20-year-old teen’s father was then mentioned to be among the victims of the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center when she was 5 years old.
