New tragedy apparently linked to the use of social media by very young people. This time in the UK where a child aged just 11 died due to an accident reported by his family as a consequence of an absurd online challenge between peers.
The little boy, Tommie-lee Gracie Billington, was found dead last Saturday in a grandmother's house in Lancaster, in north-west England, as reported by the BBC, citing the heartbreaking story given by the woman herself, Tina Burns, on Facebook. According to this reconstruction – not yet certified by the police -, he he would have gotten involved, while he was a guest at a friend's house for a night, in a dangerous 'game in which other kids also participated via social media ('social media crash). A challenge which in this case would have consisted of breathing and inhaling toxic fumes, with delayed effects that were likely fatal for Tommie.
«I will do everything in my power – wrote the grandmother, addressing her dead grandson with a “devastated” heart – so that your name and your beautiful face become the reason why other children's lives can be saved and other families do not have to suffer such profound pain».
The local investigators of the Lancashire Police have for their part specified that at the moment Tommie's end is considered unclear and that the hypothesis that he was poisoned by inhaling substances from aerosols is for now “a lead for investigation”.