7-year-old kills himself with Gameboy Advance
UK, January 5, 2007 - Nintendo’s Game Boy has hit the tabloid front pages, following the tragic death of a seven-year-old boy in Thailand. This morning, the Mirror newspaper reports that Connor O’ Keefe was electrocuted while uplugging his Game Boy charger in his hotel room, during a family holiday.
Local police have stated that the incident, which happened last Saturday, was most likely to have occurred when the boy attempted to use the electrical equipment while still wet, returning from the hotel’s swimming pool. According to the Telegraph newspaper, Wiraporn Ungathakorn, acting manager of the Sunset Beach Hotel in Thailand said: “The water must have gone straight into the plug. The safety cut could not save him. He was found by his parents in the room and we sent him to hospital by ambulance. Doctors could not save him. The hotel has paid his medical fees. This was just a tragic accident.”
However, speaking to the Mirror, Kathleen Curry, the boy’s mother, debunked the claims, noting that Connor was aware of the dangers of electricity: “There should be some kind of warning about the different electrical currents you get abroad because this would not have happened in England.”
In response to the story, a spokesperson for Nintendo told us, “Nintendo wishes to offer its sincere condolences to the family of Connor O’ Keefe. Details of the accident are currently unclear so we are unable to make any further comment at this stage.”
I would also like to thank Dolemite on TNL for the greatest response to someone calling Nintendo’s comment “low”:
What the fuck is Nintendo supposed to say? “Nintendo wishes to offer its sincere congratulations to the newest Darwin Award winner, Connor O’ Keefe, for managing to be the only person on Earth to kill themself with the previously non-lethal Gameboy Advance. Now he’s playing with power!”