Teenagers crushed to death by oncoming train while engrossed in popular mobile game

Two 14-year-old boys who were engrossed in a popular mobile game have been run over and crushed to death by an oncoming train in India.

A passerby discovered the bodies of the two teenagers on a railway track in the Matura town of Uttar Pradesh around 7 a.m. (local time) Saturday. There was no witness during the accident.

According to the police, they recovered two cell phones from the scene. One of the devices was heavily damaged in the accident. However, the other phone still had the popular game known as "Player Unknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG)" still running on it.

"We don't know exactly which train was passing when the accident took place," Shashi Prakash Singh, police officer, said as per The Times of India.

The bodies have been sent for an autopsy to determine the cause of death, police said.

Police later identified the teenagers as Gaurav Kumar, 14, and his neighbor, Kapil Kumar, 14.

Following the accident, Gaurav's father, Rahul Kumar, said his son decided to go for a walk in the morning of the accident so he asked to be woken up early.

"Today was the first day of his morning walk and I wanted him to make it a routine... but now he is gone," he told the outlet.

According to Gaurav's father, the teenager left the house around 5:15 a.m. and even took his phone with him. Gaurav then went to Kapil's home and convinced him to go for a walk.

Gaurav's father, Sanjay Kumar, also spoke about the tragic accident, saying, "We have no idea about this online game. Had I been aware of it, I would have never given him a mobile phone."

Gaurav's school remembers him as a good and simple student. Sameer Malhotra, the principal at Kapil's school, echoed a similar view of the victim.

In September 2020, the Indian government banned the game due to its connection to Chinese companies. At the time, the government cited they were not comfortable having users' data sent to places outside of India.

Earlier this year, the gaming company, PUBG Studio, relaunched the application in India under the name "Battlegrounds Mobile India" with minor changes, according to The Verge. It can be easily accessed on Google's App Store.