'Highly dangerous' neknomination drinking game craze claims its first two lives in Ireland as one man drowns and another found dead in Dublin house



Ross Cummins, 22, died in Dublin amid reports he was drinking spirits



Jonny Byrne, 19, was discovered in the river at Milford Bridge in Co Carlow

Both men are believed to have been taking part in 'NekNominate' craze

Byrne's family issues emotional plea to young men not to take part in game



Players 'neck' liquor while doing stunt before nominating friend to do same

Girlfriend pays heart-rending tribute to 'one in a million' Mr Cummins



Two young men died in Ireland over the weekend , both suspected victims of the 'NekNominate' drinking craze.

Ross Cummins, 22, was found unconscious in a house in Dublin in the early hours of Saturday morning and died later in hospital amid reports he was drinking spirits at the time of his death.

Hours later, the body of Jonny Byrne, 19, was discovered floating in the river at Milford Bridge in County Carlow after apparently jumping in as part of a nomination.

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Tragic: Jonny Byrne (right), 19, was discovered floating in the river at Milford Bridge in County Carlow while Ross Cummings (right), 22, died after drinking spirits in Dublin

Scene of death: Byrne's brother said the 19-year-old 'thought he had to try and beat the competition and after he necked his pint he jumped into river'

Today Mr Byrne's family pleaded with people not to take part in the drinking game which

encourages participants to film themselves 'necking’ liquor while performing a stunt, before nominating a friend to do the same.



Mr Byrne's father, Joe, today told RTÉ: 'I'm pleading to every youngster to think of the things they're doing.

'It has cost my son his life. The whole family is devastated and our lives will never be the same again. I hope this message is heeded because for us, life is virtually over.'

Following Mr Byrne’s death, his brother Patrick tweeted a message calling for an end to the dangerous craze.



'This neck nomination s**t HAS TO STOP RIGHT NOW my young 19 year old brother Jonny Byrne from Carlow died tonight in the middle of his nomination,' he tweeted.

Loved: Ross Cummins with his girlfriend Niamh. He was found unconscious at a house and died later in hospital. Both men are thought to have been playing the NekNominate drinking game

Fun loving: Mr Cummins was believed to be drinking spirits on the night he died

'He thought he had to try and beat the competition and after he necked his pint he jumped into river. After five hours he has still not been found.' He also changed his Facebook profile to a message reading, 'Stop Neknomination Before it’s too Late.' In a video posted on the Facebook page of Mr Cummins, a well-known local DJ, just over a week ago he is seen participating in Neck Nomination. He can be seen drinking a pint of what appears to be beer, before nominating two of his friends to continue the game. Friends and family were last night consoling his distraught girlfriend Niamh Murphy, who today wrote on Facebook: 'Today was the most devastating day I have ever had. 'Words can’t describe how broken and empty I feel. I lost not only the love of my life today, but my best friend.

Musical: Mr Cummins, from Ringsend, was well known on the capital's DJ circuit and regularly performed in clubs

Heartbreak: In a moving tribute to Mr Cummins on Facebook, Niamh wrote, 'Today was the most devastating day I have ever had. Words can't describe how broken and empty I feel. I lost not only the love of my life today, but my best friend'

'Usually I think it is wrong to be writing on Facebook but I am so overwhelmed by the lovely messages and support I have witnessed in the last few hours that I had to respond.



'Ross was not only one in a million, he was my one in a million, and I really don’t know how to be a person without him. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone.

'NECK YOUR DRINK, NOMINATE ANOTHER': 'WHAT IS NEKNOMINATE?



The Neknominate craze is thought to have originated in Perth, Australia, but thanks to social media it has since gone global. The hashtag 'neknominate' started trending in the UK in January 2013 and has since been growing in popularity around the world. The concept of the game has been described by a user on Facebook as: 'Neck your drink. Nominate another. Don't break the chain, don't be a d**k. The social drinking game for social media! #neknominate. Drink Responsible'. The stunt is filmed then posted on the internet. One popular video shows a bare-chested man emptying a bottle of beer down the toilet before two friends lower him head-first into the porcelain bowl to lap it up.

'Ross would be overwhelmed and delighted with your messages and prayers. I love you Ross more than anything and I will never ever be able to explain how heartbroken I am to never hear you laugh again. You made my life complete.'



Ireland's Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald today condemned the craze saying it was evidence of society’s broader need to address the binge drinking culture.

'This is not a game. It is a highly dangerous - potentially lethal - phenomenon, where an inappropriate peer pressure element adds to the risks,' she said.

The Neknominate craze is thought to have originated in Perth, Australia, but thanks to social media it has since gone global.

The hashtag 'neknominate' started trending in the UK in January 2013 and has since been growing in popularity around the world.

The concept of the game has been described by a user on Facebook as: 'Neck your drink. Nominate another. Don't break the chain, don't be a d**k. The social drinking game for social media! #neknominate. Drink Responsible'.

One popular video shows a bare-chested man emptying a bottle of beer down the toilet before two friends lower him head-first into the porcelain bowl to lap it up.

The concept of the game has been described on Facebook as: 'Neck your drink. Nominate another. Don't break the chain, don't be a d**k. The social drinking game for social media! #neknominate. Drink Responsible' Another video shows a young man get punched, beaten with sticks, have firecrackers thrown at him and his pants set alight, as he guzzles beers and shots. A third shows a group of apres-ski partygoers downing beers that have first been poured into someone's sweaty ski boot. But the competitive nature of the game has authorities worried as nominees are encouraged to go further and be more extreme in their videos. Director of the University of NSW's National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Professor Michael Farrell, has expressed his concern on the trend saying it could turn deadly. ‘It's like Jackass and that type of wild behaviour, and it's not necessarily very impressive,’ he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

‘The main issue is the question of scale and context. In general it looks like it could get people into a lot of trouble, with a lot of pressure to drink.

The trend has reached the apres-ski scene in St Anton, where legendary bar the Krazy Kanguruh sees partygoers like 'Charlo', pictured, remove a ski boot and use it to down pints of beer

'It's competitive, heavy drinking, and that tends to end up with people coming to serious grief through alcohol poisoning. It isn't a thing to be encouraged at all.'

Another trend concerning authorities is ‘skidnominate’, a dangerous escalation of the drinking game where participants film themselves doing burnouts and skids in their cars.

A Facebook spokesman said: 'At Facebook we try to be a platform where people can share freely whilst still protecting the rights of others.

'We do not tolerate content which is directly harmful, for example bullying, but controversial or offensive behavior is not necessarily against our rules.

'We encourage people to report things to us which they feel breaks our rules so we can review and take action on a case by case basis.