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harmful

Nine-year-old girl hospitalised in England after vodka-whiskey neknomination

The girl took alcohol from the cupboard at a friend’s house without their parents’ knowledge.

A NINE-YEAR-old girl has become the latest victim of the neknomination craze which resulted in the death of a young Irishman two months ago.

It is reported that Rhiannon Scully from Durham was hospitalised after drinking a cocktail of vodka and whiskey at a friend’s house. The dare was filmed on a mobile phone but later deleted.

The Daily Mail, which spoke to the little girl’s parents, reports that her mother called an ambulance for her after she was found riding home ‘all over the place’ on her electric scooter. The nine year old had taken the alcohol from a cupboard at her friend’s house without their parents’ knowledge.

“We found out in the ambulance that it was a neknomination,” the girl’s mother Michelle Scully said. “Rhiannon said “them stupid neknominations”. I wouldn’t like to see this happen to any other child and I wouldn’t wish the feeling I felt as a parent on my worst enemy. They need to teach children in schools the dangers of alcohol.”

The girl’s father said she was on a drip all night in hospital and had to have her stomach pumped.

The neknomination craze started in Australia, quickly spreading to the UK and Ireland as people videoed themselves downing pints and nominating friends to do the same. In Ireland, the craze resulted in tragedy, claiming the life of 19-year-old Jonny Byrne from Carlow who went into the water as part of his dare.

Following his death, the young man’s family spoke out against neknominations, urging young people not to take part in them.

“It has cost my son his life and our lives will never be the same again,” his father Joe Byrne said at the time. “I hope this message is heeded. For us life is virtually over.”

Since then, the trend has died down in Ireland, being replaced with #RAKnominations in which people do kind deeds and then nominate friends to do the same.

Read: ‘Will it take my brother’s death for people to realise how stupid neknomination is?’>

Read: Turning a negative to a positive: Alternatives to neknominate gather pace>

More: TheJournal.ie got #RAKnominated – so here’s what we did>

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