Prosecutors close investigation into fatal ice hockey training accident

The Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office has terminated its pre-trial investigation into the death of a 13-year-old boy fatally injured during an ice hockey practice last November, ruling the incident an accident with no criminal liability, LRT reports.

The boy, born in 2012, died in hospital on the evening of November 19 after another player accidentally struck him in the neck with a puck during training at the Hockey Punks Academy in Vilnius. Emergency services rushed him from the rink, but he succumbed to his injuries hours later.

Prosecutor Egidijus Motiejūnas stated that forensic medical findings and collected evidence confirmed the training had been properly organised and supervised. “This was a tragic accident. No one is at fault for the boy’s death,” he said. The incident was captured on video, as the session had been recorded.

The death marks the second major loss for Lithuania’s ice hockey community in under a year. Last summer, prominent player Mindaugas Kieras drowned after sustaining severe head and spinal injuries in a diving accident.