Mentally ill schoolboy, 16, jumps 31 floors to his death
A 16-year-old boy plunged to his death from a public housing block in Tung Chung on Lantau yesterday morning.
Wong Chun-pong, a Form Two student at Lai Chack Middle School in Tsim Sha Tsui, was found lying unconscious outside Heung Yat House, Yat Tung Estate, just after 7.30am.
He was taken to Princess Margaret Hospital, where he was declared dead.
Police believe Chun-pong jumped from the 31st-floor staircase where the family lived. No suicide note was found.
Initial investigations showed there were no suspicious circumstances.
The boy's father, 58, did not realise his son was dead until officers arrived at the family's home at 8am. He told police he thought his son had left to go to school at 7am.
Officers were told the schoolboy suffered from schizophrenia. He was admitted to a mental ward at Kwai Chung Hospital on April 22 and was discharged earlier this week.
Chun-pong lived with his parents and elder sister. He is the 11th student to commit suicide this academic year. In the previous school year, 12 pupils committed suicide, compared with 14 the year before.
An Education and Manpower Bureau spokesman said two educational psychologists and a school development officer would counsel students and teachers at the school.
People in need of help can call the following hotline numbers: Samaritans (multi-lingual) 2896 0000, and Samaritan Befrienders (Cantonese) 2389 2222
