Seven die in online suicide pact in Japan

[emad]

Justin McCurry in Tokyo
Wednesday March 2, 2005
The Guardian

Seven people have killed themselves within hours of each other in Japan in the latest round of suicides committed after pacts made on the internet.

Four people in their 20s and 30s were found dead in a car in a mountainside parking lot in Tochigi prefecture late on Monday. Shortly before 10am yesterday, the bodies of three people, including a 14-year-old girl, were found 30 miles away inside a car parked on a dry riverbed.

All seven had apparently died from carbon monoxide poisoning after sealing themselves in the vehicles and inhaling the fumes from charcoal stoves. Police said suicide notes had been found in both cars. The note in the second vehicle indicated that the victims had arranged to die together in internet chatrooms.

At least 20 people have killed themselves in group suicides in Japan this year. Last year, 55 were known to have made suicide pacts compared with 34 in 2003, but police admit the true figure may be far higher.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/japan/story/0,7369,1428256,00.html

[sam sarrha]

1. i am sure there's a lot of unemployed people here to break that record.

..lets get together... or maybe just get a carbon filter on your water system, got to be something in the water

or just quit watching the NEWS..

[sybylla]

2. Suicide is an entirely different "entity" in Japanese society

than it is in western cultures. I imagine they must find this western "version" of suicide quite stunning.