Gulf Daily News:Bahrain: Suicide rate rings alarm

Bahrain: Suicide rate rings alarm
Manama Jan 23: INDIAN Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty has expressed concern at the number of his countrymen committing suicide in Bahrain.

At least three Indians are known to have killed themselves within the first 21 days of this month.

The most recent case happened on Sunday when a man, whose identity has yet to be revealed, was found hanging at Commerce Towers near the Sheraton Hotel.

One day earlier, salesman Hamza Maheen, 47, jumped to his death from the pedestrian bridge near the InterCon-tinental Bahrain Hotel.

A financial controller and father-of-two Ashok Kumar was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Hoora apartment on January 3.

Bahrain: Suicide rate rings alarm
Manama Jan 23: INDIAN Ambassador Balkrishna Shetty has expressed concern at the number of his countrymen committing suicide in Bahrain.

At least three Indians are known to have killed themselves within the first 21 days of this month.

The most recent case happened on Sunday when a man, whose identity has yet to be revealed, was found hanging at Commerce Towers near the Sheraton Hotel.

One day earlier, salesman Hamza Maheen, 47, jumped to his death from the pedestrian bridge near the InterCon-tinental Bahrain Hotel.

A financial controller and father-of-two Ashok Kumar was found hanging from a ceiling fan in his Hoora apartment on January 3.

The embassy could not supply any immediate figures about the number of Indians who have killed themselves in Bahrain in recent years, but Mr Shetty admits the situation is worrying.

Bangladeshi Zulam Golam Mustafa, 49 and American Jennifer Valdivia, 27, have also committed suicide this month and the envoy believes their deaths are part of a wider problem.

“It is a matter of some concern and we need to handle it and not ignore it,” Mr Shetty told the GDN yesterday.

“We are looking into this.

“We have found there are so many factors involved, it is not just mental depression or economic reasons, for example the recruitment system, the treatment of workers and the salaries paid here are also to blame.

“Of course modern life is more stressful, but it is more complicated than just having depression.

“Some of those who committed suicide were not low wage workers and had good jobs.”

The embassy announced in November that 72 trained counsellors would be available to help people in the country’s labour camps and workplaces.

It is making use of the services offered by Bahrain Counsellors Forum (BCF), which functions under the umbrella of YMCA in Bahrain.

Mr Shetty said the embassy planned to make full use of the experts’ skills this year in an attempt to prevent people ending their lives.

“They (people who commit suicide) think there is no way out,” he said.

“The idea is to show them that there is a way out.

“But these are very sensitive issues and so they need to be handled in a proper way.

“Sometimes people (at risk) think they do not need counselling.

“They think they are alright and they do not want people knowing their business or trying to interfere in their lives.

“It is tricky.”

Bahrain burial for death plunge father

AN Indian salesman, who committed suicide by jumping off a King Faisal Highway overpass, is to be buried in Bahrain.

Sources told the GDN yesterday that the wife of the Bahrain Duty Free employee Hamza Maheen, 47, had told the Indian Embassy that the family did not want his body to be repatriated.

“We are in the process of completing all the paperwork and expect the burial will take place today,” said an embassy spokesman.

The spokesman said the embassy was also liaising with the Bahrain Duty Free management on the matter.

“This is a tragedy which has happened and we are trying to make it easier for the family and friends of the deceased,” said the spokesman.

He said he was not aware of the reasons behind the suicide and that it was for the police to investigate.

A close friend of the Indian told the GDN earlier that the salesman, who had been for nearly two years in Juffair, had sent his wife and youngest daughter back to India earlier this month to join his eldest daughter who was studying there.

Meanwhile, Ibn Al Hytham School principal Nizammuddin Molla, said Mr Maheen’s two daughters, who were his students, “suddenly stopped coming to school three or four days before the incident.”

He said the school was not even aware that the children had left the country.

“We assumed they had not come to school for some reason and found out only after the incident that they had not attended class for four days.”

He said the children’s school leaving certificates had also not been collected.

Mr Maheen fell feet-first onto a moving car’s windscreen injuring Bahraini couple Dawood Salman and his wife Moza Mohammed, both aged 49.

The incident has now sparked calls to modify or at least monitor the bridge, amid fears there could be a rush of other suicide attempts from the structure.

Gulf Daily News

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