. Just hours eaNine-year-old Prachi Kumawat, a student of Class 4 in Danta town of Sikar, Rajasthan, passed away after suddenly falling unconscious during her school lunch break on Tuesdayrlier, she had taken part in the morning assembly and prayers like every other day.

She had returned to school only on Monday after missing a few days due to a minor cold. Her school principal, Nand Kishore Tiwari of Adarsh Vidya Mandir School, told NDTV that Prachi seemed healthy when she came to school and showed no signs of illness.

According to school staff, Prachi was about to eat lunch when she suddenly fainted. Teachers quickly rushed her to the nearby Community Health Centre in Danta.

Dr Subhash Verma, one of the doctors who attended to her, told NDTV, "The school staff and teachers brought the nine-year-old girl to us. She was unconscious, gasping, and having difficulty in breathing. There was no BP pulse, and her heart was not beating. We started CPR, gave her oxygen and emergency drugs, along with an injection and a drip."

He added, "We did our best to revive her, but then realising her condition was not getting better, we called an ambulance and referred her to a hospital in Sikar."

Dr RK Jangid, who was also on duty at the health centre, said they tried for nearly an hour and a half to save her. “Prima facie, it appeared to be a heart attack, and she also responded to the heart treatment that we were giving her, like CPR and oxygen, and drugs. She revived, and that's why we put her in an ambulance and sent her to the district hospital in Sikar,” he said.

Dr Jangid added, “You cannot establish definitively that she died of a heart attack without a post-mortem. She definitely appeared to be suffering from a cardiac arrest. It's possible that she had a congenital heart disease that was never discovered and could have been aggravated all of a sudden due to some other condition.”

Prachi’s family, still in shock, chose not to get a post-mortem done and brought her back home for the last rites. They said she had never shown any serious health issues before.

Doctors believe it could have been a rare medical condition. “It is a rare case to have this in children. Sometimes, there could be a congenital heart disease or disturbance in the electrical impulse, and parents may not have noticed them. But it should be investigated,” said Dr Verma.

A video recorded shortly before the incident shows Prachi smiling and introducing herself at school. Her sudden passing has left both her family and school community deeply shaken.

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