PNG Rugby World Cup visitor dies at $3000-a-head dinner

Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens gave a speech at the dinner where the man died. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A 55-year-old tourist who died from a suspected heart attack at a dinner before the Rugby World Cup semifinals was from Papua New Guinea.

The man, who collapsed about 7.30pm as about 500 diners sat down to eat on Saturday night, was believed to be attending the $3000-a-head dinner with his wife.

Former All Black Andrew Mehrtens, who gave a speech at the dinner, said he, like many others at the dinner, was at first unaware of what was happening.

When word started to filter through there were mixed messages about what had happened to the man.

"We were about to go in there and do a couple of things as part of the entertainment and then we got told that someone had possibly had a cardiac arrest but then we also got told that he'd been taken out and possibly just passed out.

"We were reasonably oblivious to the gravity of it, they had the medics in there. They were working on him outside the actual function room."

St John staff worked on the man for about 40 minutes but were unable to revive him.

Mehrtens, who didn't learn that the man had died until after the function, said it was a difficult balancing act for the organisers but he believes they handled the situation well given the circumstances.

"I guess the tough thing for the organisers there is being sensitive to this guy and those around him in that sort of situation but at the same time not effectively cancelling the whole event, so I think they did it pretty well," Mehrtens said. A spokeswoman for the venue would say only the people at the tables closest to the man were moved to other restaurants. She referred all other queries back to the police.

Police, who are not treating the death as suspicious, were unable to release the man's name last night as they were unsure if all next-of-kin had been notified in Papua New Guinea.