A Moscow postman alleged to have developed an online game which led to as many as 32 teenagers committing suicide has been arrested.

Ilya Sidorov, 26, confessed to state investigators that he had developed an online game which set the youngsters a series of tasks culminating in their taking their own lives.

Mail Online reported that he broke down under interrogation when he was asked about how he instructed a schoolgirl to jump underneath a metro train.

Sidorov was arrested on a Moscow rooftop and taken to Chelyabinsk region in the Urals to answer charges that he encouraged a 13-year-old girl to kill herself.

It was one of a number of incidents reported in Russia. Only last month a 14-year-old girl from the same region was taken to hospital with knife wounds after attempting to commit suicide.

There are growing fears over the dangers posed by the online groups, linked to what is known as the "Blue Whale" challenge, even though there have been no confirmed reports linking the game directly to suicides.

The name Blue Whale is believed to be derived from the blue whales who have been known to beach themselves on purpose.

So-called "Blue Whale" groups have been reported in a number of countries including Russia, Ukraine, Portugal, Spain, Britain and France.