A 15-year-old boy died last week at a school in St Elizabeth while playing a game of 'water war' with his friends.

Dead is Shadayne Smith of Woodlands in the parish.

According to police reports, about 11:30 a.m. last Wednesday, Smith suddenly collapsed while playing the game.

After several unsuccessful attempts to contact school officials, THE STAR managed to speak with schoolmates of the deceased boy who they describe as "very friendly and energetic".

full of energy

"All now I can't believe ... . Is a youth that was full of energy and him just gone like that," 16-year-old Shawn Mullings, a friend of the deceased boy, said.

THE STAR heard that Smith had just completed his end-of-term examinations last Wednesday and decided to partake in a game of water b****ing, a traditional game played on the final day of school in which students simply chase and wet each other.

It would be Shadayne's final day indeed.

While playing, the youngster fell unconscious and was reportedly taken to the school nurse who rushed him to the Black River Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

in shock

"Is something we do every last day and all now we don't know what went wrong ... . We were running up and down, wetting up each other and the next thing I see is when they brought him to the nurse," 15-year-old Kevin Allen, another schoolmate, said before adding "everybody at school sad, everybody in shock".

The police say a post-mortem is expected to be conducted to determine the actual cause of death but admitted that it is suspected that the teen may have drowned.

When THE STAR contacted a female family member, all she said was, "Him gone him gone," before hanging up.

Efforts to contact the person again were unsuccessful as several subsequent phone calls went unanswered.