A girl falling from a bridge opens the suicide file in Iraq
A young woman fell from a pedestrian bridge in the city of Sulaymaniyah in the Kurdistan region of Iraq in front of her university on Thursday morning, resulting in her immediate death.
What happened is believed to be a new suicide case, which can be added to the increasing suicide cases in the country, estimated in the hundreds annually.
Saman Nader, the head of the emergency department in Sulaymaniyah, reported that the incident occurred at 06:12 AM, where a girl between the ages of 18-20 fell from the bridge in front of Sulaymaniyah University.
He added that when the ambulance teams arrived at the scene, the young woman had already passed away, and it is unknown whether the incident was a suicide or not.
According to security sources, investigations are ongoing to determine the circumstances of what happened, while local media revealed that the girl was unidentified as she did not have identification papers at the time of the incident.
Complex Factors
Iraqi social researcher Nawal Al-Ibrahim says :
You should not preempt the results of the investigation into this unfortunate incident, but it is likely, as indicated by the circulating information, to be closer to a suicide case, especially since these pedestrian bridges are safe and equipped with high fences on their sides to prevent pedestrians from falling or slipping.
It is also possible that she may have fallen due to exhaustion or a balance issue, for example. In general, the young age groups in Iraq have seen an increase in suicide cases, which can be attributed to a complex set of factors, including unemployment, poverty, anxiety, depression, and a lack of prospects. These factors are linked to complex and intertwined economic, social, psychological, emotional, and environmental backgrounds.
This is exacerbated by the pressures of contemporary life, its challenges, and its temptations, which weigh heavily on some young people who are by nature sensitive, dreamy, and impulsive, driving them in a moment of despair to take their own lives, unfortunately.
Shocking Numbers
The world celebrates International Suicide Prevention Day every year on September 10, a day that calls for the preservation of the lives of young people and others.
The first International Suicide Prevention Day was launched in the Swedish capital Stockholm on September 10, 2003, as an initiative of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and the World Health Organization, where this day was designated as a means to focus attention on the problem worldwide and reaffirm the message against the idea of suicide.
According to the latest statistics from the United Nations, released this year in conjunction with the observance of International Suicide Prevention Day, more than 700,000 people around the world die by suicide every year, with the number of suicide attempts reaching several million. Thus, suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among young people aged 15-29.
Suicide cases do not occur evenly in the countries of the world, as 77% of cases occur in developing countries, including the Eastern Mediterranean region, where the number of suicides in 2019 reached more than 41,000 people.
According to the World Health Organization’s statistics in 2019, Iraq recorded 1,128 suicide cases.
