'Treasure your life' slogan saves man from suicide
The anti-suicide message 'Treasure your life' printed on a bag of charcoal made a man change his mind as he was about to set the fuel alight to commit suicide in his house in Yuen Long yesterday.
Yip Kwai-hung, 32, put charcoal into a pot in the living room of his flat in Shung Ching San Tsuen in Tai Tong Road and at noon sent a short message on his mobile phone to his 33-year-old wife to tell her he was about to commit suicide, police said.
A spokeswoman said he wanted to commit suicide because of money worries and problems with their relationship.
His wife alerted his mother, who went to Yuen Long police station and reported the situation at about 1pm.
She then raced back home but found her son alive in the living room, according to the police spokeswoman. The charcoal was in the pot but had not been lit.
'The man told our officers that he turned down his idea to commit suicide after he read the slogan - Treasure Your Life - printed on the charcoal bag,' the spokeswoman said.
The man refused to go to hospital for a check-up.
In a separate case, Lee Wai-keung, 47, plunged to his death from his apartment in Tseung Kwan O at midday.
Police said he was discussing a divorce with his 46-year-old wife in the bedroom of their Verbena Heights flat in Mau Tai Road.
'Suddenly, the man became emotional and ran out of the bedroom. He jumped out of the window of the living room,' a police spokesman said.
Lee was declared dead by ambulance officers at the scene. He lived with his wife and 20-year-old daughter. His daughter was not at home at the time.
A police officer said no sign of a struggle was found in the flat and initial investigations had found no suspicious circumstances.
The tragedy comes a day after a 43-year-old man leapt to his death in front of his two daughters apparently thinking he had strangled his wife to death. His 32-year-old wife was in stable condition in United Christian Hospital last night.
A spokeswoman from the Social Welfare Department said the daughters, aged nine and 10, were being looked after by relatives.
She said the department would follow up the case and provide welfare and financial assistance to the family.
A police investigator said money troubles were suspected to have been behind the tragedy.
