[mellotron]

Any statistics on US deaths like this? I couldn't seem to find anything particularly useful.

I just mean to say that China is an enormous country, and statistically these things are bound to happen. Does anyone else perceive this type of media coverage as part of a greater strategy of propagandizing or is the oversturation of news outlets just hungry for enything sensationalist to grab eyeballs? Both?

[objclxt]

Sudden cardiac arrest is quite common amongst the population as a whole (http://www.sca-aware.org/about-sca). What's rather uncommon is it to happen at a young age, but it's not unknown. In the four years I was at college two students suffered fatal arrests, both thought to be healthy with no prior symptoms.

[reeses]

Interestingly, the only people (OK, two) who died on "death march" projects were offshore team members from India and China who came to the US specifically for the final 18-24h/day push to hit a launch date.

This is out of maybe 90 people working extreme hours on the two projects in question.

[kayoone]

while you are right, these things just happen. I have just recently read about a 22 year old guy from Zynga and from a similiarly aged engineer that had the same thing happen to them. While chances to survive are extremly low, both guys are well now.

I read about it on HN and Reddit.

[walshemj]

Anecdotal but some one I know who worked at one of the big 4 had a younger co worker who "worked him self to death" in the UK.