Pupil, 13, loses consciousness playing choking game at Maastricht school

A 13-year-old boy lost consciousness while playing the choking game with another pupil at a secondary school in Maastricht on Thursday. The 2 VMBO pupil chipped a tooth when he fell unconscious, principal Peter-Mathijs Linsen of the Bonnefanten College told ANP, describing the incident as frightening.

This is the third major incident involving the choking game in a week. Last week, a child died while playing the game at a school in Nieuwegein. In Rotterdam, four children were arrested for playing the choking game at school.

The choking game, in which people, typically children and young people, strangle each other and stop just before they lose consciousness, is currently trending on social media. It surfaces every few years.

“It is incomprehensible, but it did happen,” Linsen told the news wire. “The challenge seems to be gaining momentum, it is very strange.” A teacher at the school intervened and the boy’s mother came to pick him up. “Physically, he recovered very quickly. I think something happened more in his head,” said Linsen. “We are in good contact with mother and child.”

The school has informed pupils and their parents about what happened and is considering extra information provision on the dangers of this challenge.