A 'BLACKOUT Challenge' which children at a York school have taken part in can kill in seconds, a safety boss has warned.

Nathan Davies, Head of Policy at Rospa, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, said depriving their brain of oxygen could make people pass out, cause cardiac arrest or brain damage, killing in just a few short seconds.

He said that for many students, school was a time to broaden their horizons and try new things. "However, what shouldn’t be included in those fresh experiences are life-threatening practices like the ‘Blackout Challenge,'" he said.

"We’d recommend all parents explain the dangers with their child to ensure they recognise and avoid the risks.”

He spoke out after Manor CE Academy vice-principal (welfare), Louise Scaum, emailed parents to warn them that its students had taken part in the challenge, which she said was circulating on social media.

She said: "In this, students are purposefully attempting to make themselves faint by holding their nose/breath until they pass out."

"We have unfortunately had a couple of attempts at this in school this week and therefore hope that by making parents/carers aware, you can be given the opportunity to highlight the dangers of this ... and prevent this from further occurring."

She asked parents with any queries to contact their child’s Head of Year.

One parent told The Press: "This is really scary. People need to know what's going on, so they can do something to prevent it happening."

A school spokesperson said that when the students had been asked where they had seen the challenge, they had cited TikTok.

But a TikTok spokesperson said it was 'deeply committed' to protecting the safety of young people on TikTok and had taken industry-leading steps to promote a safe and age-appropriate experience for teens on its platform.

"This disturbing “challenge”, which people seem to learn about from sources other than TikTok, long predates our platform and has never been a TikTok trend," they said.

"Content of this nature is prohibited on our platform and would be removed if found."

Given opportunity by The Press to comment further, Miss Scaum said the safety and wellbeing of the schools’ pupils was her utmost priority.

“Having discovered this dangerous 'Blackout Challenge' is circulating on social media again, we wanted to make parents and carers aware,” she said.

“We have spoken to all pupils in school to warn them of the dangers and as ever, we also rely on the support of families in matters such as this.

“We have therefore asked them to also speak to their children to highlight the risks of attempting such challenges.”