PUBG Mobile Addiction: Teen Dies After Allegedly Playing PUBG for 6 Hours

A 16-year-old boy died of cardiac arrest allegedly while playing PUBG battle game on his mobile phone for six hours at a stretch here in Madhya Pradesh, his father said Friday. The deceased was identified as Furkan Qureshi, a Class 12 student. The incident took place on May 28 when Furkan Qureshi and his family, settled at Nasirabad in Rajasthan, had come to Neemuch to attend a marriage, the teenager's father, Haroon Rasheed Qureshi, said. Police said they have not been informed about the boy's death by his family and hence not launching a probe as of now.

Before Furkan Qureshi became unresponsive Monday while playing the online game, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG), on his smartphone, he ‘shouted blast it, blast it', his father told PTI.

“He was a very active lad. My son was so engrossed in PUBG game that he played it from Sunday evening to early hours of Monday.

“He slept for a few hours and after getting up had his breakfast and then played the game for six hours at a stretch,” Haroon Qureshi said.

“Furkan shouted ‘blast it, blast it' after his character in the game lost a battle,” he said.

The teenager was rushed to a hospital after he became unresponsive while playing the game, but could not be resuscitated.

“I examined him at my nursing home. He was unresponsive. His heartbeat had stopped. I tried my best but he was brought dead,” cardiologist Ashok Jain said.

Another city-based cardiologist Vipul Garg said children nowadays get so much mentally involved in playing battle games on mobile phones that their emotions run high due to thrill and excitement, and they often fall prey to heart failure.

Children should be kept away from such mobile games, Garg said.

Kotwali police station inspector Ajay Sarwan said they had not been informed that the boy's death has taken place due to a mobile phone game.

“So we are not probing it,” he added.

The popular smartphone game has been blamed for adversely affecting studies, overall behaviour, conduct and language of children.

The game has been banned by the police in some cities of Gujarat on ground that it leads to violent behaviour among children and youth. 

PUBG Mobile also recently started rolling out a new feature that aims to help promote a healthy gaming behaviour to ensure young players do not spend too much time on the game.