A worker sacked for performing the dance craze "Harlem Shake" in an Australian gold mine had considered safety and only did it on a break, his lawyer said, adding that the prank was harmless. As many as 15 electrical workers were fired by Barminco, apparently for safety reasons, after video of a small group doing the dance, which involves thrusting and gyrating, in a Western Australian mine was posted online.

Workers at an underground gold mine in Western Australia have been sacked for performing the Harlem Shake dance while on the job, reports said Monday. After the success of Gangnam Style, the latest viral dance craze has swept the globe, resulting in thousands of Internet copycat clips daily. Its raunchy moves have even led to clashes in Tunisia and arrests in Egypt. The West Australian newspaper said up to 15 Barminco workers from the Agnew gold mine were fired for videoing themselves doing the dance and banned for life from every Barminco project around the world.

Egyptian police said Saturday they have arrested four students who filmed themselves publicly dancing in their underwear, as more people around the world emulate a viral dance craze called the "Harlem Shake." The four pharmaceutical students shocked residents of a middle class Cairo neighbourhood when they removed most of their clothes and videotaped themselves performing the pelvis-thrusting dance, a police official said. The hostile audience tried to assault the students, who are accused of committing "a scandalous act," the official added.

The up-and-coming Brooklyn DJ behind "Harlem Shake" said Monday he's thrilled to see his cutting-edge electronic dance music (EDM) track going viral in a very big way. "Honestly, (I'm) just happy to see people go crazy to my stuff," Baauer told fans during a two-hour ask-me-anything session on Reddit.com as more and more "Harlem Shake" memes kept finding their way onto YouTube. "It will definitely create lots of hype but thats not something i worry about," he wrote during the online chat.