A 17-year-old boy died after gorging himself on spicy Korean noodles for an internet challenge, it has emerged.

Victim Omar Youssef – from Egypt – experienced discomfort after taking the challenge and was taken to hospital, according to local media.

He died five days later after suffering kidney failure, his influencer sister Shrihan Youssef announced on social media.

Now his family reportedly say they plan to sue the noodle manufacturer after he was hospitalised with stomach pains.

An autopsy found that his blood circulation had dropped dramatically which was the reason for his death.

The brand of noodles has not been revealed and it is also unclear just how hot they were or how much Omar ate.

His sister Shrihan Youssef said: “This stuff is dangerous, there is even a health warning on the package, and yet you can buy everywhere and loads of people eat it.”

Some of the spicy noodle products have Scoville levels – which measure how spicy a product is – that far exceed regular hot sauces like Tabasco.

One brand, Samyang Spicy Noodles, for example, offers instant ramen that can reach 10,000 Scovilles, which is about four times hotter than Tabasco.

And many noodle manufacturers explicitly advertise their products as challenges, with a number of spicy noodle challenges taking the internet by storm.

Shrihan added: “I want to do this legal case not because I want any compensation, but I want to publicise the fact that this product is dangerous, and people need to be aware because it’s available everywhere despite this fact.”