Teenaged boy dies after hit by cricket ball

In a freak accident, a teenaged spectator at a local cricket match died in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur after being hit by the cricket ball, police said Wednesday.

Thirteen-year-old Mohammad Azeem, who was watching the cricket match on the ground of a primary school Tuesday evening in Naglanath area, died after the ball, shot by the batsman, hit him.

"Azeem was watching the match from near the boundary line," police inspector M.M. Khan told reporters Wednesday in Shahjahanpur, some 150 km from Lucknow.

"According to eyewitnesses, Azeem fainted after being hit by the ball and died before he could be taken to a hospital," he added.

"It's an unfortunate incident. Azeem's body has been sent for post-mortem examination," Khan said.

Eyewitnesses told the police that the ball, resembling a tennis ball, hit Azeem in the stomach, after which he died.