Teacher dies after suffering 'psychiatric injury' from witnessing horrific death of schoolboy

Geoff Vezey suffered a fatal heart attack about two years after finding 15-year-old Timothy Fehring unresponsive with blood pouring from his nose and covered in vomit on a school trip

Geoff Vezey died last April (

Picture: New)

A teacher has died of a heart attack caused after witnessing the death of a student about two years earlier, according to his family.

Geoff Vezey was vice-principal at Blackburn High School in Melbourne, Australia, when he witnessed 15-year-old Timothy Fehring die during a school trip to Europe on July 28, 2019.

The student had unwittingly developed a blood and lung infection which developed into sepsis and died in the presence of Mr. Vezey in a doctor's office in Vienna, it was reported.

The teacher found the teenager unconscious, with blood pouring from his nose and covered in vomit. Although he was rushed to hospital, Tim died shortly after arriving.

Timothy Fehring passed away on July 28, 2019 (

Picture:

New)

Mr. Vezey, 52, died in April 2021 from a heart attack which his family says was triggered by the trauma of witnessing Tim's death.

They are suing the Victorian Department of Education, claiming the traumatic episode left him with an "acute psychiatric injury".

Court documents showed the vice principal struggled to move on after the boy died and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and strokes of panic, according to the report.

Newspapers say the traumatic experience took a heavy toll on Mr. Vezey and acted as a "contributing factor" to his death.