Singaporean man dies from heart attack after finally catching a coveted Lapras in Pokémon GO

Witnesses say it happened as soon as he realized he caught it.

When Pokémon GO was first released, there were a few unfortunate incidents of players getting hurt or even killed in accidents as a result of playing the game and not paying attention to their surroundings. That caused the Japanese government to release an official Pokémon GO safety campaign, which so far seems to have been successful in keeping Pokémon GO-related injuries down.

But recently one new Pokémon GO incident has made the news, due to its heartbreaking circumstances. A 67-year-old Singaporean man died of a heart attack after finally catching a rare Pokémon that he’d been after for a long time: Lapras.

Liang Weiming was playing Pokémon GO at the Marina Bay Sands high-rise resort hotel in Singapore on February 26 when the people he was with say he caught a Lapras and then immediately suffered a heart attack. He was taken to Singapore General Hospital but died before he arrived.

▼ A picture of Liang Weiming
surrounded by flowers at his funeral

REPORT - 67-year-old man dies from heart attack after catching prized Pokemon 'Lapras' at MBS… http://twitter.com/i/web/status/8…

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  (@GoNintendoTweet) March 02, 2017

His wife says that her husband suffered from heart disease, and that he had been a fan of Pokémon GO since the day of its release. He had caught over 200 different species and made it to level 28 in the game.

What makes this story even more tragic is that Liang Weiming may have been playing Pokémon GO as an incentive to walk outside and exercise more to help strengthen his heart. The fact that even his wife was able to recant how many Pokémon he’d caught and what level he was shows how dedicated he was to playing, and just proves that you can be a gamer at any age.

Despite the tragedy of this story, it’s important to also remember the good that Pokémon GO has brought to people, as well as the lives it has managed to save. We have a feeling it’s what Liang Weiming would have wanted.

Source: Yurukuyaru via My Game News Flash
Top image: RocketNews24

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