A Class 12 student hailing from Nasirabad, Rajasthan passed away while playing PUBG for several hours at a stretch. Furqan Qureshi played the game all through the night on May 25th. Following this, he began to play on May 26th from 12:30 pm onwards. The boy continued to play for 6 hours. His sister Fiza who is two years younger than him was in the room when the incident took place. “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” according to Fiza.

Furqan’s father Haroon Rashid Qureshi rushed to the room on hearing his daughter shout. They then took the boy to a cardiologist when they found him unconscious. Unfortunately, he was declared dead on arrival. According to cardiologist Dr Ashok Jain, “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 has been playing the game with his friends for the past one and a half years. 2 weeks ago when his father confiscated his phone due to negative effects on academics and sports, he did not eat for 2-3 days. This made his parents return the phone to him when he promised he would play only for half an hour every day. This is not the first death that has been associated with the game. The boy’s father demands a national ban on the addictive game.