Furqan Qureshi was rushed to a hospital where doctors failed to revive him (Representational)
A 16-year-old boy died of a cardiac arrest in Madhya Pradesh's Neemuch, allegedly after he played online multiplayer game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds or PUBG - as it is popularly known - for six hours continuously.
Furqan Qureshi, a student of Class 12, was rushed to a hospital where doctors failed to revive him.
"The death was caused possibly by severe cardiac arrest triggered by sudden, but deep shock. It's 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," Dr Ashok Jain, a cardiologist in Neemuch town, who treated Furqan, told NDTV.
"The excitement of the video game might have caused a surge in adrenaline causing increased heart rate and cardiac arrest," Dr Jain added.
Furqan's younger sister Fiza, who was present in the room where he was playing the online game, said that he suddenly started shouting, "Blast it... blast it".
Fiza also heard Furqan saying, "Ayan, you got me killed and made me lose the game. I won't play with you again," before he complained of severe headache and fell on the bed.
Furqan's father Haroon Rashid told NDTV that the family was visiting Neemuch for a wedding.
"We had come to our home town Neemuch for the marriage of his cousin some days back. Despite being scolded over playing the game for long hours, Furqan continued to play the game on phone," Mr Rashid said.
PUBG is an online multi-player battle game that was developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole. The game has been downloaded more than 360 million times around the world since its release in late 2017.
The hugely popular game PUBG was recently banned in Gujarat over concerns about its impact on the "behaviour, conduct and language" of those playing it.
The game has also been banned in Nepal and Iraq after reports of the adverse health impact on the players who played it for long periods.