Close to 300 students participated in an initiation ritual on Saturday night in Gedinne, in the Namur province. First-year students had to complete a number of discomforting ‘challenges’, which included eating animal food or laying a tub full of ice cold water or blood.
It ended tragically for one 19-year-old individual, who died following the incident. The prosecutor’s office has launched an enquiry into the matter and announced that an autopsy of the body will be done on Tuesday.
According to reports, no alcohol was given to students during the trials, but that changed once the ritual had ended. When the student later collapsed, medical trainees at the scene still tried to revive the young man. However, when emergency service members arrived, he was already dead.
In Belgium these hazings are often criticised because new students are sometimes mistreated. In 2018, an 18-year-old student lost his life during such ritual, with similar incidents in the Netherlands in the past years.
