Prabal Gurung is not dead, despite reports suggesting otherwise

New York Fashion Week designer Prabal Gurung has been caught up in a bizarre death hoax, stemming from a Google Alert which claimed he had died in a car crash.

BY Bibby Sowray | 04 July 2012

Prabal Gurung with Zoe Saldana at this year's CFDA Awards. Photo: Rex

Prabal Gurung has been forced to deny reports that he was killed in a car accident yesterday.

The designer received frenzied calls from friends and family desperate to check on his wellbeing after a Google Alert was sent out in which the Global Associated News claimed he had "died in a single vehicle crash on Route 80 between Morristown and Roswell".

Disturbingly, the false news report also detailed that Gurung "lost control while driving a friend's vehicle on Interstate 80 and rolled the vehicle several times killing him instantly" before further suggesting that he was driving at 95 miles per hour in a 55mph zone.

IN PICTURE: Prabal Gurung autumn/winter 2012

A few hours later the shocked designer took to his Twitter page to assure his followers that he was in fact alive and well: "Hi everyone I am safe n sound. Pls don't blv the spammed google alert ie going around proclaiming my death in a car crash.I found out about the alert when my fam n friends called me worried n crying just now. Its a horrible spam n I can't even imagine why or who would even do it but please be fully assured I am perfectly fine." (sic)

Speaking to the New York Post earlier today, Gurung said he was "disturbed" by the reports which had caused his loved ones such extreme distress, adding: "I wish the parties involved in this hoax had some empathy for those who are at the receiving end of this prank. I hope that Google looks into this and takes firm action."

Prabal - whose designs are loved by the likes of Zoe Saldana and Sarah Jessica Parker - is not the first well-known figure to have to deny reports their own death. Kanye West, Paul McCartney and Britney Spears are just a few of the many celebrities who have also been victims of death hoaxes, a practice which is becoming all the more familiar thanks to social media.