A young man from India became so immersed in a video game he was playing that he mistook a dangerous chemical for water and died almost instantly, police said.

Saurabh Yadav, 20, from the city of Gwalior in central Madhya Pradesh state, was riding a train on Tuesday with his friend who uses jewelry cleaners in his job. The men shared the same travel bag. During the trip, Yadav was playing the mobile version of the popular PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds online videogame, known as PUBG, on his smartphone.

At one point, the man became so absorbed in the game that he reached into the bag and, instead of a bottle of water, pulled out a jewelry polishing compound and drank it “without checking,” Vijay Singh, the chief of Government Railway Police (GRP) at the Agra Cantt railway station, said, citing the victim’s friend.

The toxic liquid quickly “caused deterioration in his health and he collapsed,” Singh said, noting that Yadav had died before the train reached the station. His body was sent for autopsy to clarify the cause of death.

Also on rt.com Gamers RISE UP against Prince Harry after he calls to ban ‘addictive' Fortnite

Developed by a South Korean company, PUBG has been described as highly addictive, especially among teenagers.

In March, a young Indian man accidentally drank acid instead of water while playing the game. Two months later, a 16-year-old student in India died from a heart attack after playing PUBG for six hours straight. His brother told the media that the boy would play the game for 18 hours a day.



Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!