DENPASAR ~ An 8-year-old boy died after a schoolyard bullying incident in which a fellow student punched him on the back of the head, officials said.

Kadek Adi Swardana Putra was pronounced dead at Sanglah General Hospital after he was taken there following the incident on Tuesday, the hospital said.

The boy died from a brain hemorrhage, it said.

The principal of Elementary School 27 in Pemecutan in Denpasar, Ida Ayu Karang, said the boy had earlier been taken to a nearby clinic but had had a seizure and was taken to Sanglah. He denied to reporters that the child had been the subject of bullying at the school.

“I had no idea he was being bullied,” she said.

The boy’s mother, meanwhile, told a different story.

“He’s often bullied at school but never fought back because he’s afraid his teacher would be angry,” said Srinami.

The family of the boy who carried out the attack, Doni, said on Wednesday that they had not told him about the death.

The body was taken to the family’s village of Kedisan in Kintamani.