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Australia Day: Woman dies during lamington eating contest at Queensland hotel

A woman has died during an eating contest to celebrate Australia Day.

The 60-year-old woman was taking part in all-you-can-eat lamington contest when she had what was thought to be a seizure at around 2pm on Sunday.

The Queensland Ambulance Service told Yahoo News the 60-year-old woman was rushed to the local hospital as paramedics performed CPR on her for 30 minutes but they were unable to save her.

The event was held at the Beach House Hotel in Hervey Bay, Queensland, on Sunday as part of the Australia Day celebrations, which also included a meat pie eating contest.

The hotel said in a Facebook post on Monday that it offered its “deepest condolences to the friends and family of one of our patrons”.

A lamington is a sponge cake coated in an outer layer of chocolate sauce and rolled in desiccated coconut.

The Beach House Hotel in Hervey Bay
The woman was rushed to hospital from the Beach House hotel after 'inhaling coconut' from a lamington eating contest. Source: Facebook

A woman who was reportedly at the pub at the time posted about the incident on social media, describing it as a “very sad day”.

“Australia Day in Hervey Bay... sadly a lady died during the lamington eating competition,” the woman wrote on her Facebook page.

Participants were required to eat as many lamingtons as possible within a short time frame, which led to contestants ‘shovelling’ the cake into their mouths.

A promotional poster for the Beach House Hotel advertising an all-you-can-eat lamington contest
As part of the Australia Day celebrations at the Beach House Hotel in Hervey Bay, contestants were encouraged to eat as many lamingtons as possible. Source: Beach House Hotel

“This lady shovelled the lamington into her mouth with no restraint... inhaled the coconut and arrested,” she wrote.

According the the witness, the staff at the pub responded quickly and called emergency services.

Yahoo News Australia contacted the Beach House Hotel for comment, no managers were available to comment on the incident at the time of publication.

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