A 12-year-old boy in the United Kingdom has died in a heartbreaking incident after reportedly trying to imitate a scene from the popular South Korean Netflix series, 'Squid Game', as a prank. The inquest into his death concluded that the boy, Sebastian Cizman, died by hanging.
The Tragic Sequence of Events
An inquest held in Wakefield heard that Sebastian, described by his family as a happy child with no known mental health issues, was a known 'prankster'. On the day of the tragedy, he had been playing with his cousins in the garden before going inside, stating he was tired. Earlier, he had shared an image from the 'Squid Game' series in a WhatsApp group. His search history also revealed he had watched a YouTube video titled 'surviving choking alone'.
His father, Marcin, returned home from work with ice cream. It was then that one of Sebastian's cousins found him unresponsive on the staircase. Despite frantic resuscitation attempts by his parents and later by paramedics, the young boy could not be revived and was pronounced dead at the hospital.
A Popular Student and Prankster
Philip Dore, the headmaster of St Wilfrid’s Catholic High School in Featherstone, remembered Sebastian as a popular, happy, and humorous student. The inquest noted that the boy enjoyed making his friends laugh and had a history of playful behaviour, including pretending to be unconscious during play-fights. Detective sergeant Paul Bayliss suggested that Sebastian's 'prankster nature', combined with his interest in 'Squid Game' and the image found on his phone, provided a possible explanation for the tragic event.
A Mother's Heartbreaking Plea
In the aftermath of the unimaginable loss, Sebastian's mother, Katarzyna Cizman, issued a powerful and emotional warning to other parents and social media companies. She expressed hope that her son's death could serve as a lesson to prevent future tragedies.
"It’s hard what I’m going to say, but I hope that the loss of my child is going to help some other children to understand. And for the people that run these social media platforms to do something, to stop it from happening," she was quoted as saying. "How many kids have to die until they do something? My message to other parents is check your children’s phones before it is too late."
This tragic incident underscores the profound and sometimes fatal influence of online content and popular media on young, impressionable minds, sparking urgent conversations about digital safety and parental vigilance.
