Death by coconut

Bilingual warning sign in Honolulu, written in English and Japanese

Coconuts falling from their trees and striking individuals can cause serious injury to the back, neck, shoulders and head, and are occasionally fatal.[1]

Following a 1984 study on "Injuries Due to Falling Coconuts", exaggerated claims spread concerning the number of deaths by falling coconuts. Falling coconuts, according to urban legend, kill a few people a year. This legend gained momentum after the 2002 work of a noted expert on shark attacks was characterized as saying that falling coconuts kill 150 people each year worldwide. This statistic has often been contrasted with the number of shark-caused deaths per year, which is around five.[2]

Concern about the risk of fatality due to falling coconuts led local officials in Queensland, Australia, to remove coconut trees from beaches in 2002. One newspaper dubbed coconuts "the killer fruit".[3] Historical reports of actual death by coconut nonetheless date back to the 1770s.[4]

Death by coconut can also occur as sudden cardiac death caused by hyperkalemia after consuming moderate to large quantities of coconut water, due to its high potassium level.[5]

  1. ^ Barss, P. (November 1984). "Injuries due to falling coconuts". The Journal of Trauma. 24 (11): 990–991. doi:10.1097/00005373-198411000-00012. ISSN 0022-5282. PMID 6502774.
  2. ^ "International Shark Attack File". Shark Research Institute. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2014.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Killer Fruit was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference MobileReference2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Hakimian, Justin; et al. (2014). "Death by Coconut". Circ Arrhythmia Electrophysiol. 7 (1): 180–181. doi:10.1161/CIRCEP.113.000941. PMID 24550410.