A university student is fighting for his life in a coma after consuming a bottle of vodka during a hazing event.

Daniel Santulli was found unconscious inside a car by University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, following his participation in an initiation ceremony.

His blood alcohol content was 0.486 percent, which was more than six times the legal limit for driving.

According to a complaint filed by his family, the 19-year-old was dragged into the deadly act as a pledge at the University of Missouri’s Phi Gamma Delta house on October 20 of last year.

Daniel, of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was resuscitated and placed on a ventilator, but he is said to have sustained substantial brain damage.

He is still “unresponsive, unaware of his surroundings, unable to communicate, and [with] a significant injury to his brain,” according to legal filings filed in Boone County Circuit Court.

According to the news site, the family’s lawyer, David Bianchi, said it was the “worst” damage caused by a fraternity pledge he’d ever seen in his 30 years in the industry.

People at the university’s chapter of Phi Gamma Delta are also named in the suit.

The chapter has been put on hold since then.

In a statement, Ron Caudill, the fraternity’s national executive director, said:

“Our thoughts and prayers are with Danny and the Santulli family during this difficult time.

“We have received the civil complaint and are reviewing it…We expect all chapters and members to follow the law and abide by the fraternity’s policies, which prohibit hazing and the provision of alcohol to minors.”

“These are part of a pattern of unsafe and dangerous behaviour that represents the traditions of the fraternity,” he added.

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