Who Was The First Death of 2016?

Who was the first person to die in 2016?

According to a gaming site called Steam, it was Australian newsman Brian Johns, “who passed away on January 1, 2016 at age 79 due to cancer.”

But was it really Johns?

“Did he die on 12:00:00:00?” asked one commenter on the site.

“Undoubtedly there was some nobody that overdosed on drugs, got hit by a bus or committed suicide,” before him that could claim the honor of being the first death of 2016, another commenter pointed out.

It’s a small scuffle, but I was curious, so I consulted Google. Typing in “first death in 2016” I got a long and disconcerting list of first murders. From Chicago: Man shot to death in first 2016 homicide. From Hartford: Fatal stabbing becomes city’s first stabbing. From New York City: Man is crushed to death by falling elevator. And from Cleveland: Man stabbed to death marks first homicide of 2016.

But this wasn’t quite what I was after. By the time these deaths happened, it had already been 2016 for half a day in some parts of the world. To truly find out who the first death of 2016 was I needed to check a map.

While Australia is indeed close to the International Date Line, and would have been among the first nations to see the New Year, there are places that are even closer, such as:

The Marshall Islands/Gilbert Islands
Kiribati
Samoa
Somewhere in the Chukotskiy Poluostrov region of eastern Siberia, near the Bering Strait
Tonga
Fiji

The true first death of 2016 probably occurred in one of these places. To find out I searched local newspapers for 2016 deaths.

The Marshall Islands Journal had interesting news about tuna fisheries and local elections but no deaths.

On KiribatiUpdates.com, the news was written in the local language of Kiribati, so I wasn’t able to find out much. Kiribati, along with Samoa, are often highlighted as the first nations to welcome the New Year.

On Samoanews.com, the news was in English, but no 2016 deaths.

I couldn’t find any news about Egvekinot or Anadyr, a Russian city built on permafrost, or any of the other towns and cities in far eastern Siberia.

In Tonga, Matangi Tonga online reported that Tropical Cyclone Ula roared through over the New Year, but thankfully there appears to have been no casualties.

On the website of the Fiji Times I finally found an article entitled: First day, 3 deaths. Tragically, on the first day of the New Year there were three separate drowning incidents in Fiji.

“In the first incident,” reads the article, “a man died after the boat he was travelling in with seven others capsized near the Buresala jetty in Levuka yesterday.

Police spokesman Inspector Atunaisa Sokomuri said the group was returning from the New Year church service on Moturiki.”

So there it is, the first death of 2016 appears to not have been the Australian newsman Brian Johns, but a Fijian man who drowned after his boat capsized while returning home from church.

With that said, please everyone be careful in 2016, and happy New Year~

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