MLE invites "amateur" competitive eaters to participate alongside veteran eating champions in most of its events. MLE's online event application page is for applicants 18 years of age or older who fully acknowledge and understand the inherent dangers and risks associated with participating in an eating contest. Applicants further acknowledge and understand that the MLE/IFOCE coordinates with event sponsor(s) to select and approve eligible participants, and that the MLE/IFOCE shall decide, at its sole discretion, whether an applicant is eligible to participate in any eating event, and/or related activities. MLE/IFOCE may revoke an applicant's eligibility to participate in the eating contest, or related activities, at any time, for any reason, at its sole discretion. The MLE/IFOCE and the event sponsors reserve the right, at any time, to change any and all details concerning the event, including, time, duration, location and prize structure. ||||| A fireball goes up at the site of an oil train derailment Monday, Dec 30, 2013, in Casselton, N.D. The train carrying crude oil derailed near Casselton Monday afternoon. Several explosions were reported as some cars on the mile-long train caught fire. (Bruce Crummy/AP) 
 
 Smoke rises from the burning Jianye building on December 15, 2013 in Guangzhou, China. A fire broke out in the unfinished Jianye Building at about 7 p.m. on Sunday with around 380 firemen attending the blaze, authorities have yet to say whether there are any casualties. (ChinaFotoPress/Getty Images) 
 
 A man takes a picture with his phone as Mount Sinabung spews pyroclastic smoke seen from Tigapancur village on November 24, 2013 in Karo district, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Mount Sinabung, which has been intermittently erupting since September, has erupted eight times in just a few hours overnight. Officials have reported of rocks raining down over a large area, forcing thousands to flee their homes. The Indonesian government has called for people living within five kilometres (3.1 miles) of the volcano, on the northern tip of Sumatra Island, to evacuate their homes as the volcanology agency raised the alert level for the volcano to the highest point on a four-stage scale. 
 
 Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a Metro-North passenger train derailment in the Bronx borough of New York Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013. The train derailed on a curved section of track in the Bronx on Sunday morning, coming to rest just inches from the water and causing multiple fatalities and dozens of injuries, authorities said. Metropolitan Transportation Authority police say the train derailed near the Spuyten Duyvil station. (John Minchillo/AP) 
 
 Indians stand and watch floodwaters in Panskura, near the East Midnapore district in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, India, Saturday, Aug. 24, 2013. India's monsoon season, which runs from June through September, bring rains that are vital to agriculture but also cause floods and landslides. (AP) 
 
 Rescue crews and law enforcement workers continue their investigation of a school bus that overturned while transporting girls from Pembroke Hill School to a campout Wednesday, August 21, 2013, in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Several students were transported to area hospitals, but no one was killed in the accident. 
 
 In this handout image provided by the U.S. Coast Guard, approximately 100 Haitians sit on the hull of a 40-foot sail freighter after it grounded and capsized and await rescue November 26, 2013 15 nautical miles southwest of Staniel Cay, Bahamas in the Caribbean Sea, At least 10 Haitian migrants are reported dead and approximately 100 are being rescued by U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Bahamian Defense Force rescue crews. (U.S. Coast Guard/Getty Images) 
 
 Authorities inspect the wreckage of two Chicago Transit Authority trains that crashed Monday, Sept. 30, 2013, in Forest Park, Ill. The crash happened when a westbound train stopped at the CTA Blue Line Harlem station, and was struck by an eastbound train on the same track. The CTA is investigating the cause of the crash, including why the trains were on the same track. A CTA official said 33 people suffered non-life threatening injuries. (M. Spencer Green/AP) 
 
 Firefighters battle a blaze in a building on the Seaside Park boardwalk on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2013, in Seaside Park, N.J. The fire began in a frozen custard stand on the Seaside Park section of the boardwalk and quickly spread north into neighboring Seaside Heights. (Julio Cortez/AP) 
 
 A cluster of life rafts floats near the cargo ship Sulpicio Express Siete Saturday Aug. 17, 2013, a day after it collided with a passenger ferry off the waters of Talisay city, Cebu province in central Philippines. Divers combed through a sunken ferry Saturday to retrieve the bodies of more than 200 people still missing from an overnight collision with a cargo vessel near the central Philippine port of Cebu that sent passengers jumping into the ocean and leaving many others trapped. At least 28 were confirmed dead and hundreds rescued. The captain of the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas, which was approaching the port late Friday, ordered the ship abandoned when it began listing and then sank just minutes after collision with the MV Sulpicio Express, coast guard deputy chief Rear Adm. Luis Tuason said. (Bullit Marquez/AP) 
 
 Debris burns as a UPS cargo plane lies on a hill at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport after crashing on approach, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2013, in Birmingham, Ala. Toni Herrera-Bast, a spokeswoman for Birmingham's airport authority, says there are no homes in the immediate area of the crash. (Hal Yeager/AP) 
 
 Indian Fire officials rescue a girl from the debris of a collapsed building in Mumbai, India, Friday, Sept. 27, 2013. The multi-story residential building collapsed in India's financial capital of Mumbai early Friday, killing at least three people and sending rescuers racing to reach dozens of people feared trapped in the rubble. (AP) 
 
 In this image released by the Tabasco state government press office on Sunday Aug. 25, 2013, rescue workers try to evacuate the injured after a cargo train, known as "the Beast", derailed near the town of Huimanguillo, southern Mexico. The cargo train, carrying at least 250 Central American hitchhiking migrants derailed in a remote region, killing at least five people and injuring dozens, authorities said. (Tabasco state government press office/AP) 
 
 A road crew works on a stretch of highway washed out by flooding along the South Platte River in Weld County, Colorado near Greeley, Saturday, Sept. 14, 2013. Hundreds of roads in the area have been damaged or destroyed by the floodwaters that have affected parts of a 4,500-square-mile (11,655-square-kilometer) area — an area the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut. (John Wark/AP) 
 
 Rescuers search for survivors after an oil pipeline exploded on November 24, 2013 in Qingdao, China. The death toll from the blast that occurred in Huangdao district on Friday morning has risen to 52, with 11 others still missing. (Photo by ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images) 
 
 A Bangladeshi firefighter douses a fire at a garment factory in Gazipur outside Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013. The fire killed nearly a dozen people at the garment factory in Bangladesh about six months after a factory building collapse that killed 1,100 people exposed the harsh and often unsafe conditions in an industry that is the world's third-largest. (AP) 
 
 Indian men sit on the roof of a house which is submerged in the floodwaters of the River Ganges after heavy monsoon rains in Salori, India, Monday, Aug. 26, 2013. India's monsoon season, which runs from June through September, brings rains that are vital to agriculture but also cause floods and landslides. (Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP) 
 
 A firefighter watches for spot fires during a burnout operation while battling the Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park, Calif., on Sunday, Aug. 25, 2013. Fire crews are clearing brush and setting sprinklers to protect two groves of giant sequoias as a massive week-old wildfire rages along the remote northwest edge of Yosemite National Park. (Jae C. Hong/AP) 
 
 People stand on the edge of a collapsed bridge as they wait to ferry their goods via a boat across the Papagayos River, south of Acapulco, near Lomas de Chapultepec, Mexico, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013. Mexico was hit by the one-two punch of twin storms over the weekend, and the storm that soaked Acapulco on Sunday - Manuel -re-formed into a tropical storm Wednesday, threatening to bring more flooding to the country's northern coast. With roads blocked by landslides, rockslides, floods and collapsed bridges, Acapulco was cut off from road transport. (Eduardo Verdugo/AP) 
 
 Capitol Hill police officers look at a car following a shooting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 3, 2013. A police officer was reported injured after gunshots at the U.S. Capitol, police said Thursday. They locked down the entire complex, at least temporarily derailing debate over how to end a government shutdown. (Charles Dharapak/AP) 
 
 This view shows two other towers, in front of and behind a 10-story apartment building destroyed by a Tuesday gas explosion that killed 10 people, in Rosario, Argentina, Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2013. Argentine firefighters found signs of life Wednesday, searching through a huge pile of rubble, all that was left of a 10-story apartment building destroyed by a gas explosion that injured dozens and left 13 unaccounted for. (Alejandro Rio/AP) 
 
 Office workers cross a flooded street using makeshift floats during heavy rain at the financial district of Makati, south of Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013. Flooding caused by some of the Philippines' heaviest rains on record submerged more than half the capital Tuesday, turning roads into rivers and trapping tens of thousands of people in homes and shelters. The government suspended all work except rescues and disaster response for a second day. (Aaron Favila/AP) 
 
 Authorities search an abandoned building for a man who escaped a courthouse in Detroit, Monday, Sept. 9, 2013. Derreck White, 25, who police said also used the name Abraham Pearson, was awaiting sentencing in an armed robbery and escaped a Detroit courthouse on Monday after stabbing a sheriff's deputy several times in the neck and carjacking a motorist. The escape prompted a lockdown of the facility and sparked a manhunt. (Paul Sancya/AP) 
 
 Residents walk on a damaged highway in Loboc township, Bohol province in central Philippines Wednesday Oct. 16, 2013, a day after a 7.2-magnitude quake hit Bohol and Cebu provinces. The tremor collapsed buildings, cracked roads and toppled the bell tower of the Philippines' oldest church Tuesday morning, causing multiple deaths across the central region. (Bullit Marquez/AP) 
 
 In this photo taken on Sept. 2, 2013, specimens collected from traps are taken back to the lab in Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang city, Khanh Hoa province, Vietnam, for analysis to determine how well Wolbachia mosquitoes are infiltrating the native population. The Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes not only died quicker but they also blocked the dengue virus partially or entirely, sort of like a natural vaccine. New research suggests some 390 million people are infected with the virus each year, most of them in Asia. That’s about one in every 18 people on Earth, and more than three times higher than the World Health Organization's previous estimates. (Na Son Nguyen/AP) 
 
 A firefighter surveys the scene of a small plane crash, Friday, Aug. 9, 2013, in East Haven, Conn. The multi-engine, propeller-driven plane plunged into a working-class suburban neighborhood near Tweed New Haven Airport, on Friday. (Fred Beckham/AP) 
 
 In this still frame made from security camera footage from Snapchat, Inc. headquarters, pedestrians scatter as a car drives through a packed afternoon crowd along the Venice Beach boardwalk in Los Angeles, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2013. A driver plowed into crowds at the Venice Beach boardwalk in a seemingly intentional hit-and-run that killed a woman and injured 11 others. (Snapchat Inc./AP) 
 
 A boy peers out of a damaged structure near the shoreline on November 23, 2013 in Tacloban, Leyte, Philippines. Bodies continue to be recovered nearly two weeks after the devastating Typhoon Haiyan hit as the official death toll now exceeds 5,000. The typhoon has been described as one of the most powerful to ever to hit land, leaving thousands dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. Countries all over the world have pledged relief aid to help support those affected by the typhoon, but damage to the airport and roads have made moving the aid into the most affected areas very difficult. 
 
 A firefighter uses a hose to douse the flames of the Rim Fire on August 24, 2013 near Groveland, California. The Rim Fire continues to burn out of control and threatens 4,500 homes outside of Yosemite National Park. Over 2,000 firefighters are battling the blaze that has entered a section of Yosemite National Park and is currently 5 percent contained. 
 
 In this handout photo provided by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), NTSB workers inspect the wreckage of a UPS cargo plane that crashed in a field outside of Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport August 14, 2013 in Birmingham, Alabama. The pilot and co-pilot died in the crash but no other injuries were reported. 
 
 People look at a cargo ship that crashed into the Beykoz pier while crossing the Bosphorus in Istanbul on September 6, 2013. No one was hurt in the accident that damaged over ten boats docked by the pier. 
 
 Exhausted firefighters take a rest while fire burns close by, on Crangan Bay Road, on October 18, 2013 in Nords Wharf, Australia. One man has died and hundreds of properties have been destroyed in bushfires that are devastating the Blue Mountains and Central Coast regions of New South Wales. 
 
 Firefighters try to contain a fire at an informal diesel fuel depot in Lagos, Nigeria on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2013. Witnesses said no one was injured in the fire that consumed a number of trucks at the site. Authorities continue to investigate what caused the blaze. (AP Photo/Sunday Alamba) 
 
 A fire burns at the ecological reserve near the Puerto Madero neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, July 31, 2013. Firefighters worked to put out the flames on the south side of the city, a few blocks from the political and financial center. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) 
 
 Workers use buckets to remove crude oil during a clean up operation on the beach of Prao Bay on Samet Island in Rayong province eastern Thailand Tuesday, July 30, 2013. About 50,000 liters (13,200 gallons) of crude oil that leaked from a pipeline operated by PTT Global Chemical Plc, has reached the popular tourist island in Thailand's eastern sea despite continuous attempts to clean it up. (AP Photo) 
 
 Coffins are lined up near the wreckage of a bus following a crash near Avellino, southern Italy, early Monday, July 29, 2013. A tour bus filled with Italians returning home after an excursion plunged off a highway into a ravine in southern Italy on Sunday night after it had smashed into several cars that were slowed by heavy traffic, killing at least 37 people, said police and rescuers. Flashing signs near Avellino, outside Naples, had warned of slowed traffic ahead along a stretch of the A16 autostrada, a major highway crossing southern Italy, before the crash occurred, said highway police and officials, speaking on state radio early Monday. They said the bus driver, for reasons not yet determined, appeared to have lost control of his vehicle. (Salvatore Laporta/AP) 
 
 Spanish bullfighter Ivan Fandino, is gored by one Torrestrella' ranch bull, in the bull ring, at the San Fermin fiestas, in Pamplona northern Spain on Thursday, July 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos) 
 
 A fire is seen on the Hercules 265 drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Louisiana, Wednesday, July 24, 2013. Natural gas spewed uncontrolled from the well on Tuesday after a blowout that forced the evacuation of 44 workers aboard the drilling rig, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the blowout. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert) 
 
 This combo image taken from security camera video shows clockwise from top left a train derailing in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on Wednesday July 24, 2013. Spanish investigators tried to determine Thursday why a passenger train jumped the tracks and sent eight cars crashing into each other just before arriving in this northwestern shrine city on the eve of a major Christian religious festival, killing at least 77 people and injuring more than 140. (AP) 
 
 Train passengers wait to be transported to a hospital after they were injured in a train crash in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, June 13, 2013. A two-level train slammed into another that had stopped between stations during the morning commute Thursday. Firefighters and police are pulling passengers from the wreckage. Train operator spokesman Pablo Gunning says there are "various fatalities" though has not specified how many. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko) 
 
 This aerial photo shows the wreckage of the Asiana Flight 214 airplane after it crashed at the San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, Saturday, July 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez) 
 
 A man struggles to move a vehicle submerged in a flood water after torrential rain which hit the metropolitan area in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, July 22, 2013. Heavy rain battered the central part of the Korean Peninsula, including Seoul and its vicinities, Monday, flooding homes and roads, according to police. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon) 
 
 Villagers known as "Badjao" seek temporary shelter on their boats at a pier to flee the fighting between government forces and Muslim rebels at sunset Saturday Sept. 14, 2013 in Zamboanga city in southern Philippines. The standoff began Monday when about 200 fighters from a Moro National Liberation Front rebel faction stormed several coastal communities in the city and seized residents. (Bullit Marquez/AP) 
 
 This picture made available Tuesday June 4, 2013, shows an aerial view of the swollen Vltava river that flooded Luzec nad Vltavou village near Melnik, about 40 km (24.8 miles) north of Prague, taken on Monday, June 3, 2013. Heavy rainfalls cause flooding along rivers and lakes in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/CTK, Vit Simanek) SLOVAKIA OUT 
 
 A car damaged in an accident sits in the middle of the street in the East Village section of New York, Wednesday, June 19, 2013. Fire authorities say eight people have been hurt, several of them seriously, after a car jumped a curb and slammed into a 24-hour grocery around 7 a.m. Wednesday. A witness says the driver lost control about a block away and plowed through everything on the sidewalk. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) 
 
 In this photo taken late Tuesday, June 18, 2013 a traffic jam forms on a highway blocked because of a fire at a military depot near Chapaevsk in the Samara region of southern Russia. Exploding shells set off a fire that was triggering explosions Wednesday at a military depot in southern Russia, injuring about 30 people and causing the evacuation of more than 6,000 from a nearby village, investigators and emergency workers said. (AP Photo/Anatoly Bazhukov) 
 
 A view of damaged houses is seen following monsoon rains in Shrinagar, India, Tuesday, June 25, 2013. Authorities prepared Tuesday to cremate the bodies of hundreds of people who perished in monsoon flooding in northern India, as soldiers attempted to rescue tourists and pilgrims who remained stranded in a remote town. (AP Photo) 
 
 Local villagers fall onto the ground from a cart pulled by oxen as they take part in a ceremony to exorcize evil spirits and pray for rain amid the rice planting season at Pring Ka-ek village, about 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) northwest of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Thursday, June 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith) 
 
 Travis Pastrana (60) crashes into Jason White (24) in turn 4 of the NASCAR Nationwide auto race at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, July 5, 2013, in Daytona Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Darryl Graham) 
 
 A Sri Lankan Buddhist monk identified as Bowatte Indrarathane walks after self immolating outside the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy, Sri Lanka, Friday, May 24, 2013. Sri Lankan police said the Buddhist monk has suffered serious injuries after setting himself on fire to protest the slaughter of cattle. He reportedly had told other monks that he was burning himself to protest the killing of cattle for meat. (AP Photo) 
 
 Investigators examine the scene of an overnight explosion that ripped through an apartment in a busy, upscale district of Taguig city, east of Manila, Philippines, Saturday, June 1, 2013. Philippine officials said Saturday they still do not know what caused the powerful explosion that killed three people in a van that was hit by debris. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez) 
 
 In this photo provided by Jordan McLaughlin, a dust cloud rises as people run from the scene of a building collapse on the edge of downtown Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 5, 2013. A building that was being torn down collapsed with a thunderous boom, raining bricks on a neighboring thrift store, killing a woman and injuring at least 13 other people in an accident that witnesses said was bound to happen. (AP Photo/Jordan McLaughlin) 
 
 France's Randy De Puniet crashes during a free practice session for Sunday's Italian Moto GP, at the Mugello race circuit, in Scarperia, Italy, Saturday, June 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni) 
 
 A stunt plane loses control as a wing walker performs at the Vectren Air Show just before crashing, Saturday, June 22, 2013, in Dayton, Ohio. The crash killed the pilot and the stunt walker instantly, authorities said. (AP Photo/Thanh V Tran) 
 
 Colorado Springs resident Yolette Baca takes a photo of the wildfire in the Black Forest area north of Colorado Springs, Colo., on Wednesday, June 12, 2013. The number of houses destroyed by the Black Forest fire could grow to around 100, and authorities fear it's possible that some people who stayed behind might have died. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley) 
 
 A Houston firefighter carries a firehose from the scene where four firefighters were killed while battling a fire that engulfed a motel and restaurant on Friday, May 31, 2013, in Houston. At least five other people were hospitalized, authorities said. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) 
 
 This still taken from video provided by James LeBrun shows an explosion outside Baltimore on Tuesday, May, 28, 2013. Baltimore County fire officials say a train derailed in a Baltimore suburb on Tuesday and an explosion was heard in the area. A fire spokeswoman says the train derailed about 2 p.m. Tuesday in White Marsh, Md. (AP Photo/James LeBrun) 
 
 Onlookers gather along a flooded intersection, Sunday, May 26, 2013, in San Antonio. Heavy rains and flooding are being blamed for at least two deaths in San Antonio. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) 
 
 In this photo provided by Francisco Rodriguez, rescue workers form a human chain as they begin to remove a woman who reaches out from a smashed pickup truck that fell into the Skagit River after the collapse of the Interstate 5 bridgeThursday, May 23, 2013, in Mount Vernon, Wash. (AP Photo/Francisco Rodriguez) 
 
 A child is pulled from the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., and passed along to rescuers Monday, May 20, 2013. A tornado as much as a mile (1.6 kilometers) wide with winds up to 200 mph (320 kph) roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods, setting buildings on fire and landing a direct blow on an elementary school.(AP Photo Sue Ogrocki) 
 
 In this Friday, April 19, 2013 Massachusetts State Police photo, 19-year-old Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, bloody and disheveled with the red dot of a sniper's rifle laser sight on his forehead, raises his hand from inside a boat at the time of his capture by law enforcement authorities in Watertown, Mass. (AP Photo/Massachusetts State Police, Sean Murphy) 
 
 Aerial view shows first responders working next to destroyed homes and vehicles after a gas tanker truck exploded on a highway in the Mexico City suburb of Ecatepec early Tuesday, May 7, 2013. The blast killed and injured dozens, according to the Citizen Safety Department of Mexico State. Officials did not rule out the possibility the death toll could rise as emergency workers continued sifting through the charred remains of vehicles and homes built near the highway on the northern edge of the metropolis. (AP) 
 
 In this image taken from video and provided Monday, May 13, 2013, by the New Orleans Police Department, a possible shooting suspect in a white shirt, bottom center, shoots into a crowd of people, Sunday in New Orleans. The possible suspect may have two accomplices in the Mother's Day gunfire that wounded 19 people during a New Orleans neighborhood parade. (New Orleans Police Department / AP) 
 
 A man jumps from the fifth floor of a building that caught on fire in Lahore, Pakistan, Thursday, May 9, 2013. The 13-storey government building caught fire and quickly intensified spreading to three floors of the tall building. (K.M. Chaudary / AP) 
 
 The Artemis Racing AC72 catamaran, an America's Cup entry from Sweden, lies capsized after flipping over during training in San Francisco Bay on Thursday, May 9, 2013, in San Francisco. Artemis Racing said Andrew "Bart" Simpson, an Olympic gold medalist from Great Britain, died after the capsized boat's platform trapped him underwater for about 10 minutes. Behind are the historic buildings of the Angel Island internment camp. (Noah Berger / AP) 
 
 Amanda Berry, right, hugs her sister Beth Serrano after being reunited in a Cleveland hospital Monday May 6, 2013. Berry and two other women were found in a house near downtown Cleveland Monday after being missing for about a decade. (Family Handout / WOIO-TV / AP) 
 
 This frame grab taken from video provided by Roxana and Carlos Guzman shows a Limo on fire Saturday, May 4, 2013, on the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge in San Francisco. Five dead female bodies were found pressed up against the partition behind the driver, where they apparently tried to escape the smoke and fire that kept them from the rear exits of the extended passenger compartment. (Roxana and Carlos Guzman / AP) 
 
 Wounded churchgoers lie on the ground as Roman Catholic nuns run for cover after a blast at the St. Joseph Mfanyakazi Roman Catholic Church in Arusha, Tanzania Sunday, May 5, 2013. A Tanzanian police official says a woman died and over 40 people were seriously injured when a bomb exploded in the Roman Catholic Church in northern Tanzania, with eyewitnesses reporting that the bomb was thrown from a motorcycle. (AP) 
 
 Sisters Brandy McCrary, left, and Breona Montgomery, who are cousins of the five fatal house fire victims, hug neighbors Bonita Beasley, center, and Jennifer Moss, right, in Newnan, Ga., Saturday, April 27, 2013. The fire killed Alonna T. McCrary, 27, as well as her 5-year-old daughter Eriel McCrary and 2-year-old daughter Nikia White, according to Glenn Allen, the Georgia state Insurance commissioner's spokesman. Two other children, Messiah White, 3, and McKenzie Florence, 2, also died. Allen said the two were sleeping over at the home. A fifth child, 11-year-old Nautica McCrary, escaped the burning home and was taken to a hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. (David Tulis / AP) 
 
 Fire burns aboard two fuel barges along the Mobile River after explosions sent three workers to the hospital Wednesday April 24, 2013. Fire officials have pulled units back from fighting the fire due to the explosions and no immediate threat to lives. (John David Mercer / AP) 
 
 An injured woman gets treatment after an explosion in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, April 29, 2013. Police said a powerful explosion has damaged a building in the center of the Czech capital and they believe some people are buried in the rubble. (Petr David Josek / AP) 
 
 An alligator crosses the 14th fairway during the first round of the PGA Tour Zurich Classic golf tournament at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La., on Thursday, April 25, 2013. (Gerald Herbert / AP) 
 
 People and rescuers gather after an eight-story building housing several garment factories collapsed in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, April 24, 2013. Dozens were killed and many more are feared trapped in the rubble. (A.M. Ahad / AP) 
 
 A restaurant sits surrounded by floodwater Saturday, April 20, 2013, in Louisiana, Mo. Communities along the Mississippi River and other rain-engorged waterways are waging feverish bids to hold back floodwater that may soon approach record levels. (Jeff Roberson / AP) 
 
 A village woman reacts after her house was damaged by an earthquake in Lushan county, Ya'an, southwest China's Sichuan province on Saturday, April 20, 2013. The powerful earthquake struck the steep hills of China's southwestern Sichuan province Saturday, nearly five years after a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region. (AP) 
 
 This Thursday, April 18, 2013 aerial photo shows the remains of a nursing home, left, apartment complex, center, and fertilizer plant, right, destroyed by an explosion in West, Texas. Rescuers searched the smoking remnants for survivors of Wednesday night's thunderous fertilizer plant explosion, gingerly checking smashed houses and apartments for anyone still trapped in debris while the community awaited word on the number of dead. Initial reports put the fatalities as high as 15, but later in the day, authorities backed away from any estimate and refused to elaborate. More than 160 people were hurt. (Tony Gutierrez / AP) 
 
 In this Wednesday, April 17, 2013, photo provided by Joe Berti, a plume of smoke rises from a fertilizer plant fire near Waco, Texas. A massive explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. killed as many as 15 people and injured more than 160, officials said Thursday morning. (Joe Berti / AP) 
 
 Security guards scuffle with Indians protesting inside the lower house of Congress against a proposed amendment that would give Congress a say in the demarcation of indigenous territory, in Brasilia, Brazil, Tuesday, April 16, 2013. The Indians say they will not leave until the president of the Chamber of Deputies reverses his decision to form a commission to deal with the amendment. The amendment is backed by the congressional caucus of rural property owners, which says the present demarcation system reduces their production possibilities. (Eraldo Peres / AP) 
 
 Officials from the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) wait for orders outside a train which was derailed before entering Bangkok station in Bangkok, Thailand, Friday, April 5, 2013. Three people were injured in the accident which officials said is still under investigation. (Apichart Weerawong / AP) 
 
 Firefighters battle a three alarm warehouse fire in the Central City section of New Orleans, Monday, April 1, 2013. An arching column of smoke from the blaze hung over much of the downtown skyline. (Gerald Herbert / AP) 
 
 A policeman stands next to a man weeping next to the body of Maria Duron, a pregnant fruit vendor caught in the crossfire after gunmen opened fire on a vehicle, killing a sixteen year-old student, her police bodyguard and three other people who were on the street in the city of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Monday April 15, 2013. According to the Honduras National Autonomous University's Observatory of Violence, Honduras has the highest homicide rate in the world. (Fernando Antonio / AP) 
 
 Rescuers using mechanical diggers remove rubble from the site of a collapsed building in downtown Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Friday, March 29, 2013. A Tanzanian police official says the multistory building was in the final stages of its construction and most of the people caught up in the collapse were passing by. (Khalfan Said / AP) 
 
 An aerial photo shows a landslide near Coupeville, Wash. on Whidbey Island, Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The slide severely damaged one home and isolated or threatened more than 30 on the island, about 50 miles north of Seattle in Puget Sound. No one was reported injured in the slide, which happened at about 4 a.m. Wednesday. (Ted S. Warren / AP) 
 
 A fire still burns Wednesday, March 13, 2013, after a tugboat and barge hit a gas pipeline Tuesday evening in Perot Bay in Lafourche Parish, La., about 30 miles south of New Orleans. Coast Guard Cmdr. Russ Bowen said it appears the barge is intact and none of its cargo of crude oil was leaking, though there were patches of oily sheen in the area. The Coast Guard was investigating whether the sheen were related to the accident. (Gerald Herbert / AP) 
 
 Huge waves crash against the South Gare lighthouse on March 24, 2013 in South Gare, Teeside, England. Strong winds continue to batter the East coast as unseasonal weather hits many part of the United Kingdom. (Ian Forsyth / Getty Images ) 
 
 A Bahraini anti-government protester is engulfed in flames when a shot fired by riot police hit the petrol bomb in his hand that he was preparing to throw during clashes in Sanabis, Bahrain, Thursday, March 14, 2013. Protests and clashes erupted in opposition areas nationwide Thursday with government opponents observing a "Dignity Strike" _ blocking roads, closing shops, protesting and staying home from work and school _ called by the more radical February 14 youth group. (Hasan Jamali / AP) 
 
 South Bend firefighters work at the scene, Monday, March 18, 2013, where a plane crashed on Sunday, near the South Bend Regional Airport, in South Bend, Ind. The plane damaged homes, as well as causing injuries. (Joe Raymond / AP) 
 
 A man is arrested at a protest against the shooting of Kimani Gray, March 13, 2013 in the East Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York City. 16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot and killed by police on March 9, provoking protests and unrest in the neighborhood. (Allison Joyce / Getty Images) 
 
 Police walk past the wreckage of two police helicopters that collided near the Olympiastadion stadium, killing one pilot and leaving several injured, on March 21, 2013 in Berlin, Germany. The helicopters were partcipating in a police exercise meant to simulate football hooligan clashes with police when the accident occured. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images) 
 
 In this Thursday, March. 21, 2013 photo, local residents walk on a road near a burning building following ethnic unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Meikhtila, Mandalay division, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) north of Yangon, Myanmar. Burning fires from two days of Buddhist-Muslim violence that killed at least 20 people smoldered across a central Myanmar town Friday as residents cowered indoors amid growing fears the country's latest bout of sectarian bloodshed could spread. The government's struggle to contain the unrest in Meikhtila is proving another major challenge President Thein Sein's reformist administration as it attempts to chart a path to democracy after nearly half a century of military rule that once crushed all dissent. (AP) 
 
 An indigenous man shouts to police, clutching a flute from inside the old Indian Museum where a fire burns behind in Rio de Janeiro, Friday, March 22, 2013. Police in riot gear invaded an old Indian museum complex Friday and pulled out a few dozen indigenous people who for months resisted eviction from the building, which will be razed as part of World Cup preparations next to the legendary Maracana football stadium. (Felipe Dana / AP) 
 
 The mother of Ram Singh, the man accused of driving the bus on which a 23-year-old student was gang raped in December 2012, cries as she speaks to journalists outside the family's home in New Delhi, India, Monday, March 11, 2013. Indian police confirmed that Ram Singh, one of the men on trial for his alleged involvement in the gang rape and fatal beating of a woman aboard a New Delhi bus committed suicide in an Indian jail Monday, but his lawyer and family allege he was killed. (Manish Swarup / AP) 
 
 This Sunday, March 10, 2013 photo shows a Honda Passport that crashed into a guardrail and flipped over into a swampy pond Sunday morning in Warren, Ohio. Highway Patrol officials say speed was a factor in the violent early morning crash of the vehicle that killed six teenagers in northeast Ohio. (Tom Sheeran / AP) 
 
 Goodyear employees scuffle with riot policemen during a demonstration against layoffs, in front of Goodyear headquarters in Rueil Malmaison, west of Paris, Thursday March 7, 2013. France has yet to hit bottom. The unemployment rate in Europe's second-largest economy rose again in the last quarter of last year to 10.6 percent, putting new pressure on President Francois Hollande's rollout of controversial labor-market reforms. (Remy de la Mauviniere / AP) 
 
 Smoke rises from a burning building at Xinmao Science Skill Park on March 4, 2013 in Tianjin, China. Fire broke out at about 4 p.m. Monday afternoon without any reports of casualties. (ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images) 
 
 In this photo provided by VosIzNeias.com, authorities work at the scene of a car accident that took the lives of an expectant couple in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, Sunday, March 3, 2013, in New York. The young couple who had taken a car service to a hospital for the birth of their first child were killed en route by the driver of a BMW who fled the scene, but the couple's baby boy survived, authorities said. (Shimon Gifter / VosIzNeias.com / AP) 
 
 Iraqi river police search for bodies around a floating restaurant in the Tigris River in Baghdad, Friday, March 1, 2013. A crowded floating restaurant loaded with dozens of guests sank in the Tigris River in central Baghdad late Thursday. (Hadi Mizban / AP) 
 
 Demolition experts watch as the home of Jeff Bush, 37, is destroyed Sunday, March 3, 2013, after a sinkhole opened up underneath it late Thursday evening swallowing Bush, 37, in Seffner, Fla. The 20-foot-wide opening of the sinkhole was almost covered by the house, and rescuers said there were no signs of life since the hole opened Thursday night. (Chris O'Meara / AP) 
 
 Massachusetts State Police examine the front of a crashed bus in Georgetown, Mass. Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The bus was carrying University of Maine basketball players and crashed into trees on the side of Interstate 95, north of Boston, injuring the driver and several students. The driver was seriously injured and was taken by helicopter to a hospital, police said. Twenty-two students were being evaluated or treated for minor injuries, they said. (Elise Amendola / AP) 
 
 Kyle Larson (32) goes into the catch fence as he collides with Justin Allgaier (31), Brian Scott (2), Parker Klingerman (77) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (88) at the conclusion of the NASCAR Nationwide Series auto race Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla. (Terry Renna / AP) 
 
 Smoke and flames billow from a burning vehicle following a shooting and multi-car accident on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas early Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The Las Vegas Strip became a scene of deadly violence early Thursday when, authorities say, someone in a black Range Rover opened fire on a Maserati, sending it crashing into a taxi that burst into flames, leaving three people dead and at least six injured. (Erik Lackey / AP) 
 
 A Lawrence Firefighter places wheel blocks as he prepares to extinguish a vehicle fire in Lawrence, Kan., Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. The car caught on fire trying to make it up a snow covered hill on Lawrence Avenue. (Orlin Wagner / AP) 
 
 People clash with riot police during a demonstration to demand jobs for the unemployed, against government austerity measures and alleged corruption of Spanish politicians in front the regional Parliament, in Pamplona, northern Spain, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. (Alvaro Barrientos / AP) 
 
 An explosion and fire sent at least 15 people to area hospitals and destroyed JJ's restaurant, at 910 W. 48th Street, in Kansas City, Tuesday evening, February 19, 2013, on the west side of the Country Club Plaza. (Keith Myers / Kansas City Star / MCT) 
 
 Rescuers search for survivors at the scene of a landslide at Yudong Village on February 18, 2013 in Kaili, Guizhou Province of China. At least five people including two children were buried after a landslide hit Yudong Village of Longchang Township in Kaili, southwest China's Guizhou Province on Monday morning. (ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images) 
 
 Four-alarm fire tears through main building at Pratt Institute. It took firefighters nearly two hours to battle the blaze that tore through the top floor of the historic structure art school's main building. Two were taken to Brooklyn Hospital, but are expeted to make full recoveries. Classes were canceled for Friday and Saturday in the 126-year-old Brooklyn building as firefighters work to control fire. (Craig Warga / NY Daily News / Getty Images) 
 
 Villagers watch as two horses fight during a Spring Festival celebration on February 20, 2013 in Rongshui County, China. The Chinese Lunar New Year of Snake also known as the Spring Festival, which is based on the Lunisolar Chinese calendar, is celebrated from the first day of the first month of the lunar year and ends with Lantern Festival on the Fifteenth day. (ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images 
 
 In this frame grab made from a video done with a dashboard camera, on a highway from Kostanai, Kazakhstan, to Chelyabinsk region, Russia, provided by Nasha Gazeta newspaper, on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 a meteorite contrail is seen. A meteor streaked across the sky of Russia’s Ural Mountains on Friday morning, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring around 100 people, including many hurt by broken glass. (Nasha gazeta, www.ng.kz / AP) 
 
 Passengers spell out the word "HELP" aboard the disabled Carnival Lines cruise ship Triumph as it is towed to harbor off Mobile Bay, Ala., Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013. The ship with more than 4,200 passengers and crew members has been idled for nearly a week in the Gulf of Mexico following an engine room fire. (Gerald Herbert, AP) 
 
 Roof debris from Westminster Presbyterian Church and power lines sit in the street after a tornado tornado touched down yesterday evening February 11, 2013 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Hundreds of homes were destroyed and over sixty people injured when the tornado ripped through the town. (Sean Gardner, Getty Images) 
 
 An Indian man weeps as he and other family members mourn next to the body of a relative who was killed in a stampede on a railway platform at the main railway station in Allahabad, India, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. At least ten Hindu pilgrims attending the Kumbh Mela were killed and more then thirty were injured in a stampede on an overcrowded staircase, according to Railway Ministry sources. (Kevin Frayer, AP) 
 
 Snow-covered cars sit in a parking lot adjacent to where firefighters battle a 4-alarm fire in a 3-story apartment building in Wilmington, Mass., Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. A major winter storm is well under way in the U.S. Northeast with up to 2 feet of snow expected for a Boston-anchored region that has seen mostly bare ground this winter. (Elise Amendola / AP) 
 
 The ocean overflows the sea wall on Winthrop Shore Drive February 9, 2013 in Winthrop, Massachusetts. An overnight blizzard left one to two feet of snow in areas, and coastal flooding is expected as the storm lingers into the day. (Darren McCollester, Getty Images) 
 
 Firefighters work at the site where a helicopter crashed into a residential area of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013. According to authorities, the pilot flying the private helicopter died, and three passengers were injured. Sao Paulo has one of the world's largest private fleets of helicopters, used as a means of bypassing extremely congested roads. (Andre Penner, AP) 
 
 A collect picture taken by a member of the public shows the scene of a helicopter crash in central London on January 16, 2013. Two people were killed when a helicopter hit a crane at a building site in central London during morning rush hour and plunged to the ground, engulfing several cars in flames. (Victor Jimenez, AFP / Getty Images) 
 
 Police investigators inspect bullet riddled Los Angeles Police Department squad car where a police officer was shot on Magnolia Ave. over the Interstate 15 Freeway on February 7, 2013 in Corona, California. Former Los Angeles police officer Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, who had allegedly warned he would target law enforcement, is suspected of firing on two LAPD officers and ambushing two other officers, killing one. Dorner is also a suspect in two weekend killings of Monica Quan and Keith Lawrence who were found dead in a car inside a parking structure. (Kevork Djansezian, Getty Images) 
 
 A train sits beneath the carriage of another train after a train crash at a station in Alfarelos, Portugal Tuesday Jan. 22, 2013. Emergency services say a high-speed intercity train rear-ended a local train waiting to enter a station in central Portugal, derailing several carriages leaving a pile of wreckage on Portugal’s main north-south line, slightly injuring 21 people. Officials said the local train was waiting to pull into a station near Coimbra, 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of the capital, Lisbon, when the northbound intercity train slammed into it from behind at 9.15 p. m. (2100 GMT) on Monday. (Miguel Teixeira, AP) 
 
 Members of the Phoenix Police Department SWAT team prepare to enter the home of a suspected gunman who opened fire at a Phoenix office building, wounding three people, one of them critically, and setting off a manhunt that led police to surround his house for several hours before they discovered he wasn't there, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Phoenix. Authorities believe there was only one shooter, but have not identified him or a possible motive for the shooting. They don't believe the midmorning shooting at the complex was a random act. (Ross D. Franklin, AP) 
 
 A woman is rescued from being trapped inside a wall of the parking garage at the Gretchen Kafoury Commons in SW Portland, Ore., Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Portland firefighters worked for over three and a half hours cutting her free. (Brent Wojahn, The Oregonian / AP) 
 
 A man hangs onto the railing of North Curl Curl ocean pool after winds and rain battered Sydney last night producing large swell on January 29, 2013 in Sydney, Australia. Parts of Sydney are experienced record rainfall after ex-cyclone Oswald swept through the city last night. (Cameron Spencer, Getty Images) 
 
 Will Carter, 15, surveys the damage to his house upon arriving home from school following a tornado, Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013, in Adairsville, Ga. (David Goldman, AP) 
 
 A crashed car lies next to an icy and snow-covered road on January 14, 2013, near Trutnov, Czech Republic. A heavy snowfall caused snow calamity, traffic problems and dozens of car accidents across the Czech Republic. (Martin Horky, isifa / Getty Images) 
 
 Rescue workers conduct rescue work after truck exploded, causing part of an expressway bridge to collapse on February 1, 2013 in Sanmenxia, Henan Province of China. The truck was carrying fireworks when it exploded on the highway causing the 30 metre high expressway bridge to collapse. It has been reported that 8 people died in the incident after their vehicles fell to the ground as the bridge collapsed. (ChinaFotoPress / Getty Images) 
 
 Michael Dennis, 80, stands beside the charred corpse of one of his pure bred Angus cattle, at his Seaton Farm on January 19, 2013 in Melbourne, Australia. Bushfires in Victoria have claimed one life and destroyed several houses as record heat continues to create extreme fire conditions throughout Australia. (Craig Sillitoe, Getty Images) 
 
 In this video frame grab provided by the New York Police Department, an unidentified gunman points a pistol at a livery car driver, not shown, Sunday, Jan. 13, 2013 in New York. Police say the suspect entered the cab, displayed a firearm and demanded money. He then fired three shots at the driver, Raphael Martinez, who was later hospitalized in stable condition. The photo was made by a security camera mounted in the cab. (New York Police Department / AP) 
 
 Local resident Syamsuri is evacuated by Indonesian Army as major floods hit North Jakarta on January 20, 2013 in Jakarta, Indonesia. The death toll has risen to at least 21since severe flooding struck the city on July 17. The US has offrered US$150,000 (Rp 1.44 billion) in aid. (Ulet Ifansasti, Getty Images) 
 
 Rescue workers stand next to a bus which crashed on the IC8 road near Carvalhal, in the central Castelo Branco district, on January 27, 2013. Ten people were killed and 33 were hurt when a coach slid off a rain-soaked road and plunged into a ravine in central Portugal today, rescue services said. More than 250 firefighters, 88 emergency vehicles and a helicopter were deployed to the scene. (Ricardo Graca, AFP / Getty Images) 
 
 Firefighters belonging to the Tacubaya sector and workers dig for survivors after an explosion at an adjacent building to the executive tower of Mexico's state-owned oil company PEMEX, in Mexico City, Thursday Jan. 31, 2013. A large explosion occurred in the lower floors of the building and dozens have been reported injured so far. (Guillermo Gutierrez, AP) 
 
 A worker stands next to the excavation wheel of a 950-tonne bucket excavator that had fallen over prior to attempting to set it upright following an accident at an open-pit coal mine on January 25, 2013 near Deutzen, Germany. The bucket excavator tipped ove last summer after the ground underneath gave way on one side and has been lying on its side ever since at the Vereinigtes Schleenhain mine, which is operated by Mibrag. Open-pit lignite coal mines are still common across eastern Germany and produce coal for local electricity production. (Sean Gallup, Getty Images) 
 
 A man carries an injured man, victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people have been injured. (Agencia RBS / AP) 
 
 An injured prison inmate is escorted by a policeman into the hospital in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. A bloody riot erupted at the Uribana prison in the central Venezuelan city of Barquisimeto Friday when National Guard troops clashed with inmates, and Venezuelan media reported that dozens were killed. It was the latest in a series of bloody riots in the countrie's prisons. (Rafael Rodriguez, El Informador / AP) 
 
 Bodyguards carry Zlatomir Ivanov, after he was shot in front of central court house in downtown Sofia, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013. Unidentified gunmen have shot and seriously wounded Zlatomir Ivanov who is alleged to be an underworld boss. Convicted underworld boss, Zlatomir Ivanov was on his way to the Sofia Court House on Tuesday when the shooter opened fire, probably from an opposite building, a senior police officer said. Ivanov and one of his bodyguards were both hit as they walked up the stairs to enter the court. Police say Ivanov was undergoing surgery after suffering four gunshots. (AP) 
 
 New York City firefighters walk the deck of the Seastreak Wall Street ferry in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. The ferry from Atlantic Highlands, N.J., banged into the mooring as it arrived at South Street in lower Manhattan during morning rush hour, injuring as many as 50 people, at least one critically, officials said. (Mark Lennihan, AP) 
 
 In this photo taken Friday Jan. 18, 2013, a masked and armed man poses for a portrait holds an ear of corn as he stands guard at the entrance to the town of El Pericon near Ayutla, Mexico. Hundreds of men in the southern Mexico state of Guerrero have taken up arms to defend their villages against drug gangs, a vigilante movement born of frustration at extortion, killings and kidnappings in a region wracked by violence. (Dario Lopez-Mills, AP) 
 
 Alireza Mafiha is hung in public from a crane in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. Iran executed two men on Sunday publicly, after posting a video on YouTube in December 2012 showing them robbing and assaulting a man with a machete on a street in Tehran. Judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani called it a "moharebeh" crime, which Iran's legal code defines as "defiance of God", or the state, are punishable by hanging. (Amir Pourmand, ISNA / AP) 
 
 Bangladeshi firefighters and volunteers work to douse a fire at a two-storied garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Saturday, Jan.26, 2013. The fire killed at least six female workers and injured another five, police and fire officials said. The latest fire occurred more than two months after a deadly fire killed 112 workers in another factory near the capital city, raising questions about the safety measures in Bangladesh garment industry. (A.M. Ahad, AP)
– Competitive eating contests were in full force over the July 4th weekend—chow-down champion Joey Chestnut even got engaged before one of his recurring food feats. But there was a tragic ending for one participant in a South Dakota competition: Walter Eagle Tail choked to death last Thursday during a hot-dog-eating contest in Custer. Although paramedics tried to save the 47-year-old at the scene after a piece of hot dog apparently lodged in his throat, Eagle Tail died after being taken to a nearby hospital. "It all happened within minutes" Custer County’s sheriff tells the Rapid City Journal. The local chamber of commerce director said it was the first time "in memory" anyone had been injured at the annual event. It’s not, however, the first time someone has died while taking part in such a contest. A 60-year-old died during a sausage-eating contest in Romania last year, per the Huffington Post, and a Florida man choked to death in 2012 after devouring dozens of live cockroaches in a bid to win a python. That's exactly why the International Federation of Competitive Eating has strict rules in place during the contests it sponsors (it appears the Custer contest was not one of them). "Walter was just being Walter, having fun when he entered this contest," a friend tells the Journal, adding that Eagle Tail enjoyed a good joke and interacting with the customers who purchased the bear-claw necklaces he made and sold.