Under pressure Chinese schoolboy 'leaps to his death in the middle of class' in horrific footage posted online

The clip apparently taken from school CCTV was posted to LiveLeak today



Suicide is the number one cause of death among young people in China



A pupil at a Chinese high school is seen apparently leaping to his death in surveillance camera footage that has been uploaded to the Internet.

The clip shows the scene in a crowded classroom as pupils settle down for a lesson. They all appear to be preparing their materials, save for one student who sits motionless in the bottom right.

Just as the youngsters appear ready to start their lesson, that boy suddenly stands up at his desk and runs to the nearest side of the room.

Although that part of the room is out of shot, it is understood that he leapt from a window - a conclusion that seems backed up by the distraught response of fellow pupils.



Classroom horror: Pupils are settling down for a lesson, unaware that one among them is planning his suicide

After several seconds apparently deep in reflection the boy suddenly gets up and makes for the window

Some run to the window to peer out, others run from the room, while one simply paces while clutching her head in her hands.



One student comes to the front of the class where he points at the teacher and shouts something at her. MailOnline did not have a Mandarin speaker on hand to translate.



The video was uploaded to LiveLeak today. It appears to be footage filmed on a smartphone of a computer screen showing the feed from the school's CCTV system.

A description of the video says: 'High school student Xiao Zhen leaps to his death from a a window in the middle of class. It is believed this happened due to pressure of preparing for college entrance exams.'

While the video's authenticity cannot be confirmed, it fits with a disturbing trend among Chinese youngsters for whom suicide has become the number one cause of death.

In most countries in the West, accidents are the biggest cause of death for young people.

The unusually high suicide rate among Chinese youth has been blamed on intense pressure to succeed in school, where the education system places great emphasis on grades and status at the expense of healthy social lives.

It doesn't take long for the boy's classmates to realise what he has done

Pupils erupt in grief and shock at the apparent suicide, screaming, crying and some of them running out

Last November the parents of a ten-year-old boy blamed a schoolteacher for their son's death, claiming that she had 'told him' to jump from a building after he failed to complete a punishment assignment.

Jun Jun smashed into a parked car beneath the flat where his family live in the Jinjiang district of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan Province.