Focus on Tsing ma bridge deaths

Researchers are to investigate the rising number of suicides from the Tsing Ma bridge but say fencing it off is not necessarily the solution.

Police have suggested putting barbed wire along the edge of the decade-old suspension bridge linking Hong Kong and Lantau.

However, Paul Yip Siu-fai, director of the Jockey Club Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, said that although the method had been effective in Times Square last year, the reason for the Tsing Ma bridge suicides had to be understood first.

'Why do people jump off the Tsing Ma bridge when there are so many alternatives, like the high-rise buildings they are living in?' Dr Yip asked. 'We need to do a bit more study to find out why. These people must have a reason to go to this sort of place.

'It may be that they like to try something very special before they die. At the moment, we have no idea but this is something our researchers will look into.'

One aspect that needed to be examined was the effect of media reporting of such suicides, he said, which might cause a 'ripple effect' and encourage other suicidal people to choose the bridge as their final destination.