Horror as clown suffers heart attack and dies while blowing up balloons for children at Macy's Parade

• Robert Blasetti, 67, was cheering parade goers alongside his wife, also in costume, when he collapsed
• The death was the second at the event with a civilian NYPD also suffering an apparent heart attack
  

By Nina Golgowski

PUBLISHED: 11:18 EST, 23 November 2012 | UPDATED: 11:34 EST, 23 November 2012

Tragedy struck Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when a clown blowing up balloons collapsed from a fatal heart attack before horrified children as well as his wife alongside the parade route.

Keeling over in full costume, 67-year-old Robert Blasetti was rushed by his wife, Irene, as she desperately administered CPR while dressed in a similar clown costume.

The couple had been cheering guests along the parade route on Sixth Avenue and West 39th Street in Manhattan when the unexpected tragedy occurred.

Tragedy: Robert Blasetti, 67, was blowing up balloons as a clown on the Macy's Parade route when he abruptly collapsed beside his wife, seen staying by his side in similar costume

Pulled from her husband in tears, his wife watched as Mr Blasetti was transferred to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

'All of a sudden he collapsed and fell on his back. People came to him right away. It didn't look like he was breathing. People started pumping his chest,' witness Tuvia Yamnik told the New York Post  of the scene.

Macy's Spokesman Orlando Veras said they were 'saddened to report' that a parade marcher had suffered a medical emergency.

He declined to say whether the man was a Macy's employee.

Heart break: His wife was hurried off in tears after entertaining the parade's many children and doing her best to administer CPR to him

Adding to the day's tragedy, the Post reports a civilian NYPD worker also died in the parade from an alleged heart attack.

Charles Sutton, 58, collapsed while hooking up a vehicle to be towed off the parade route at West 57th Street and Sixth Avenue.

He was pronounced dead at a hospital.