Shocking! Class XII student dies while playing PUBG, doctor suspects 'cardiac arrest' due to loss

The sudden burst of excitement or fear of loss just like what happens to die-hard fans watching a nail-biting soccer match could have caused the cardiac arrest, says the cardiologist who treated him.
Furqan Qureshi  (Photo | EPS)
Furqan Qureshi (Photo | EPS)

BHOPAL: In a shocking incident, a Class XII student from Rajasthan’s Nasirabad town died while playing the highly popular and addictive PUBG online game on his smart-phone at stretch for six hours in ancestral place Neemuch district of Madhya Pradesh.

The tragic incident happened on May 26 evening, when Furqan Qureshi, a 16-year-old Class XII student of Kendriya Vidyalaya in Nasirabad was playing the PUBG game on the smart-phone inside a room in an ancestral house in Neemuch district of MP.

“We had come to our home town Neemuch for the marriage of his cousin some days back and were busy in marriage preparations. But despite being scolded over playing the game for long hours, Furqan continued to play the game on phone all through the May 25 night. Subsequently, the next day he started playing the game at around 12.30 pm and kept on playing it sans any break till around 6.30 pm,” Furqan’s father Haroon Rashid Qureshi, a freelance journalist told The New Indian Express on Thursday.

“He was playing the game while his two years younger sister Fiza too was present in the same room. Furqan suddenly started shouting 'blast it, blast it' and 'Ayan tune mujhe harwa diya aur marwa diya, ab mai tere saath nahi kheloonga' (Ayan you have made me lose the game and life, I won’t play with you again). He subsequently started complaining of an acute headache and slumped on the bed,” revealed Fiza, the eldest of the two sisters.

Recounted father Haroon Rashid Qureshi, “on hearing Fiza shout for help we rushed to the room and found Furqan lying unconscious. We rushed him to cardiologist Dr Ashok Jain in Neemuch town, but the doctor declared our son dead on arrival,” said his father.

According to Neemuch-based cardiologist Dr Ashok Jain at whose medical facility, Furqan was rushed in an unconscious state on May 26 evening, “The death was caused possibly by severe cardiac arrest triggered by sudden, but deep shock. It’s quite possible that since the teenager had been playing the game for long hours at a stretch, he could have delved into some kind of syndrome from which it was difficult to come out. The sudden burst of excitement or fear of loss just like what happens to die-hard fans watching a nail-biting soccer match could have caused deep shock leading to the cardiac arrest, which ultimately led to the death.”

Furqan was the eldest among three children. “He was good in studies, but an excellent volleyball player as well as a good theatre artist, but we never even imagined in the most nightmarish dream that he will lose his life due to addiction to the online game. He led a group of six to eight boys in Nasirabad (neighbours and school friends) who played PUBG game since last one and half years.

"Only two weeks ago, I snatched his cell-phone over his habit of playing the online game which was having a negative effect on his academic and sports activities. He left food for 2-3 days forcing his mother to convince me to return the phone, after which Furqan promised to play the game only for half an hour daily,” said the deceased teenager’s father.

In deep shock after only son's death, Haroon Rashid Qureshi demanded that the game be banned by the Narendra Modi government nationally to save young minds from addictive deaths and destruction of careers.

In January 2019, the state primary education department in Gujarat had issued circulars to primary schools for banning the PUBG game over his addictive effects.

In February 2019, BJP legislator from Mandsaur seat, Yashpal Singh Sisodia had raised the matter in the MP State Assembly and demanded the banning of PUBG online game in MP.

Past Incidents    

  •  In March 2019, a 20-year-old youth died in Telangana while playing the game.
  • 18-year-old teenager alleged hanged self to death in Mumbai, following an argument with family members over buying new cell-phone to play the PUBG Mobile game.
  •  In March 2019, a youngster from Chhindwara district of MP drank acid mistaking it for water, while engrossed in the PUBG game.
  • Two persons who were busy playing PUBG game on train tracks were knocked down by a train in Hingoli district of Maharashtra.
  • A fitness trainer from Jammu allegedly started hitting himself after losing at PUBG. He was reportedly playing the battle royale game for 10 days.

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