Spanish girl is hospitalised after playing suicide 'game'

Spanish girl is hospitalised after playing suicide 'game'



A teenage girl in Spain has been admitted to hospital after it emerged she was playing a terrifying new 'suicide game' called the Blue Whale Challenge.

The 15-year-old was saved from killing herself after her family found out she had signed up to the challenge and tipped off the authorities.

The youngster was being cared for at a hospital psychiatric unit in Barcelona on Thursday night.

News of her admission comes just days after it emerged a school in Essex had made parents aware of the game following talks with police.

It will add to concern that the challenge - thought to be behind a string of teenage suicides in Russia - is gaining popularity in Western Europe.



The girl at the centre of the Spanish scare is understood to have been contacted by a mystery Internet user at the start of the month who asked her if she wanted to commit suicide and sent her basic instructions.

Spanish radio station SER said she agreed to do everything she was asked and send photographs as proof, as well as erase online exchanges to ensure she left no traces of messages.

She reportedly began a series of daily challenges soon, which included self-harming herself on her arm with a knife and going to a nearby station to watch high-speed trains rush past.



She is understood to have signed up to killing herself by throwing herself under a train - but became so absorbed in the game she was playing that she confided in a relative who alerted the police and health officials.

The case is thought to be the only one of its kind detected in Spain's north-east region of Catalonia so far.

Police are said to be probing at least 130 suicides across Russia which they fear are linked to the online craze.



Two schoolgirls, Yulia Konstantinova, 15, and Veronika Volkova, 16, fell to their deaths from the roof of a an apartment block in industrial Ust-Ilimsk.

Yulia left a note saying 'End' on her social page and earlier had posted a picture with a big blue whale. Her friend wrote: 'Sense is lost…End.'

As well as using a knife or razor to make the shape of a whale on their wrist or leg, players are also urged to watch horror movies all day and to wake themselves at 4.20am.

Last month Devon and Cornwall Police PSCO Kirsty Down posted on Twitter: 'Whoever created this horrible game is sick. Parents: Please be aware of this 'game'. Talk to your children about it if concerned.'

The headteacher of Woodlands School in Basildon reached out to parents in a letter recently.



It read: 'We have discovered a game through the police which we feel you should be aware of.

'It is called the Blue Whale Game and is played via many many social media platforms.

'Players are given a master who controls them for 50 days and each day they are given a task to complete.

'On the 50th day the masters behind the game instruct the young people to commit suicide and sadly across the world some have done this.'

Police officers in Britain have previously posted online warnings to alert parents about the challenge.

Last month, Devon and Cornwall Police PCSO Kirsty Down posted on Twitter: 'Who ever created this horrible game is sick!

'Parents: Please be aware of this 'game' talk to your children about it if concerned.'