A man dressed in a Father Christmas costume collapsed and died on Friday while handing out presents at a Christmas school party in Southern Italy for pupils aged around 11 to 13.

The Gino Rossi Vairo Institute in Agropoli, a seaside town about 100 kilometres south-east of Naples, told Deutsche Presse-Agenturthat the cause of death was not known.

The ANSA news agency named the victim as Pasquale Pagano, 45.

A local newspaper, InfoCilento it, quoted the mother of one of the pupils as saying that his face turned blue, suggesting that Pagano might have had a heart attack.

“An ambulance was called and they tried everything to save his life but there was nothing they could do for him,” the mother, whose name was not published, told the paper. (NAN)