American football star Damar Hamlin experienced a heart collapse during a US National Football League game and is now in critical condition.
The 24-year-old Buffalo Bills player tripped over an opponent during the opening period of a game against the Cincinnati Bengals and fell to the ground.
Before being transported to a nearby hospital, he received more than 30 minutes of on-field medical care.
About an hour after the incident, the NFL decided to call the game off.
His team, the Buffalo Bills, later released a statement confirming the cardiac arrest and adding that the player’s heartbeat had been restored on the field.
As the NFL season moves closer to its dramatic play-off stages, the incident triggered a wave of support for Hamlin and brought attention back to the dangerous nature of the sport.
In the stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hamlin was hitting Bengals receiver Tee Higgins when it looked that Higgins’ helmet struck Hamlin in the chest. He got to his feet, then tripped and landed on his back.
As CPR and oxygen were administered to Hamlin by medical personnel, players from both teams crowded around him. Many were observed bowing in prayer, some clearly upset, while others were seen to be crying.
While the Cincinnati audience was silent throughout the incident, television coverage frequently cut away from the action on the field.
NFL games are rarely suspended because of injury and the matchday commentators alluded to the fact that gameplay being stalled was a sign of the shocking and severe nature of the emergency.
The two teams are among the top Super Bowl contenders this year, with their head-to-head coming in the primetime Monday night slot in the penultimate week of the NFL’s regular season.