High school student dies after collapsing during boxing sparring session in Busan

Police have launched an investigation after a male high school student lost consciousness and died following a sparring session at a boxing gym in Busan.

According to the Busan Fire and Disaster Headquarters, a gym employee found 18-year-old B collapsed in a bathroom at Boxing Gym A at around 8:40 p.m. on July 9 and called emergency services.

B, who visited the gym occasionally as a hobby, had been sparring that day with C, a man in his 20s and a fellow boxing enthusiast, under a format of six two-minute rounds.

The gym employee reportedly went to check on B after he stepped out to use the bathroom during a rest period and did not return.

When paramedics arrived, B was unconscious but still had a pulse and was breathing.

He was rushed to a hospital but died on July 21, 12 days later.

Police have requested an autopsy from the National Forensic Service and are investigating sparring partner C and gym staff to determine whether intent or negligence was involved.

"Analysis of the gym's CCTV footage suggests the sparring did not appear to have been particularly intense," a police official said, adding that investigators are looking into the exact circumstances of what they described as an unusual incident.