LAHORE: An online game reportedly claimed the life of a teenage boy in Hanjarwal area late on Monday.

He committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan of his house when he “missed his mission” he was assigned in the world-over most-played game Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG).

The police high-ups confirmed that Mohammad Zakarya (16) took the extreme step for not completing his task while playing the online game.

“We found his mobile phone on the bed with the PUBG game on at that time near his body. We immediately called the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for further investigation into the incident,” Saddar Division SP Operations Ghazanfar Syed told Dawn.

The boy was a son of businessman Wajid Sohail, a resident of Gulshan-i-Abbas Phase-II.

“It was purely a case of addiction as the boy used to play PUBG game for many hours a day,” the SP said.

The most popular smartphone game in the world, the PUBG is affecting mental health of the children.

“The PUBG has been under scrutiny for being a violent game and due to this, many countries are thinking of banning it,” the SP said.

He said the boy’s father had off and on stopped him from playing the game.

On the day of incident, his father and other family members were out of the home leaving Zakarya and another member alone.

The boy had locked his room from inside while playing game, the SP said adding the family alerted the police and started investigation.

Earlier, he said, another “Blue Whale Challenge” was reported to be an online “suicide game” aimed at teenagers that used to give 50 tasks over 50 days.

The police officer said the challenge was alleged to be linked to numerous deaths around the world.

Published in Dawn, June 24th, 2020