The infamous online game PUBG: Battlegrounds inadvertently saved the lives of around 15 to 17 children and teenagers from the ill-fated hilltop village of Irsalwadi, who used to gather at the hamlet`s primary school building every day to play the multiplayer game as well as Ludo until the wee hours.

According to villagers, the school has been shut for the past four to five years and served as a gaming zone as the mobile network is strong at the spot. Children and teenagers would also play board games such as chess, snakes and ladders and carrom in the school building. A few villagers, who lacked accommodation, also slept in the building every day. The school was built in 1999 by the NGO Janiv. However, most parents preferred to admit their kids to the adivasi ashram school in Panvel, Navi Mumbai, as the facilities there were better.