Addiction to cyber games claims schoolboy’s life

An Ekaterinburg school boy died of brain haemorrhage after playing computer games for up to 12 hours a day during his summer holidays. The b...

An Ekaterinburg school boy died of brain haemorrhage after playing computer games for up to 12 hours a day during his summer holidays. The boy, Sergei (12), used to play “shooting” games at a local computer club all day long, going home only to eat and sleep, a media report said on Tuesday.

On May 31, Sergei collapsed in front of a computer terminal, and appeared to have had an epileptic fit, eyewitnesses said. He was immediately rushed to hospital, but he died three days later.

‘‘Doctors were shocked by the autopsy report of the boy, which showed extensive brain damage, probably caused by severe emotional stress in the course of the boy’s excessive computer games sessions,’’ the Noviye Izvestia daily reported. ‘‘The boy had no inherent reasons for being in such a serious condition. He was healthy and the autopsy of his body showed that he did not suffer from chronic ailments. Brain haemorrhage took place due to sustained emotional stimulation of the brain. The boy had overworked,” neurosurgeon Dr Alexei Sulimov was quoted as saying in the report.