A 14-year-old boy who died following an incident at Lewis Capaldi’s former school passed away from natural causes, police have confirmed.
Hamdan Aslam was attending St Kentigern’s Academy in Blackburn, West Lothian on Tuesday, 6 June when police were called. He was taken by ambulance to hospital, but died a short time later.
A post-mortem examination has confirmed that Hamdan died from natural causes. However, reports earlier this week had suggested the boy had died “in a chokehold”, with social media speculating the incident was tied to an online challenge known as the “tap out” game.
But Hamdan’s family have now said that “there is no one to blame for his loss”, and revealed he had a pre-existing heart condition that had previously been undetected.
As with any sudden death, a report has been sent to the Procurator Fiscal, with Police Scotland describing the incident as “deeply” affecting “everyone at the school.”
“Our family is left devastated by the sudden and tragic loss of our beautiful boy Hamdan who brought so much joy to our lives”, a family statement issued through their solicitor Aamer Anwar said.
“We want to assure Hamdan’s friends and our community that this was an entirely natural death and could not have been predicted.
“A full police investigation is being carried out, but we can confirm that Hamdan had a pre-existing heart condition that had never been detected, and sadly his death could have occurred at any time.
“There is no one to blame for his loss, it was God’s will,” the family continued. “We know that Hamdan’s loss is being deeply felt by his friends and teachers and we would urge those who have engaged in rumours on social media to stop, it is untruthful and compounding our grief.
“Please take down the posts, the running commentary is unhelpful to the children, teachers and our family who have been left deeply traumatised and devastated.
“We know that Hamdan’s teachers and friends did everything possible to save his life and for that our family will for ever be grateful to them.”
Chief Inspector Jocelyn O’Connor said: “This has been a tragic incident which has deeply affected everyone at the school.
“Our thoughts remain with Hamdan’s family and friends at this very difficult time and we are providing our support to them. They have requested privacy and I would ask their wishes are respected.”
