Beijing - Authorities have detained four people after a 15-year-old boy was beaten to death at a training camp for internet addicts in southern China, local media reported Tuesday. The four detainees were teachers at the Qihang Salvation Training Camp in Nanning, capital of the Guangxi region, and were suspected of inflicting intentional injuries causing the death Sunday of Deng Senshan, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Deng, from Ziyuan in Guangxi, was sent to the training camp by his father who said his son surfed the internet all day every day, the report said.
"Several days back, I saw an ad for the training camp on TV claiming it could help children kick internet addiction, so I decided to give it a try," the father, Deng Long, was quoted as saying.
Deng Long paid 7,000 yuan (1,024 dollars) for one month of training, according to a report by the state-run Global Times newspaper.
In an interview with the Global Times, the father said he saw wounds on tthe wrists of his son's body as well as bruises and blood on his face.
"Photos of Deng's body shown to the Global Times show visible injuries," the newspaper said.
The camp's director, identified as a man surnamed Xia, reportedly denied the teenager was beaten, saying he was sent to hospital with a high fever.
Deng Senshan's death came as the government seeks to rein in treatment options for internet addicts. The Ministry of Health last month banned the use of electroshock therapy by clinics treating addiction.
According to an earlier China Daily report, about 10 per cent of young internet users in China are addicts, and more than two-thirds of them are male.
