Nine Die in Net Suicide Pact

13/10/2004| IslamWeb

Japanese police said yesterday they were investigating a suspected group suicide involving nine people who met through the Internet, the latest in a rash of suicides linked to the Web. Seven of the dead - four men and three women, including several teenagers and a 33-year-old mother were found dead yesterday in a car parked on a mountain road in Minano in Saitama prefecture near Tokyo, officers said. The other two, both women, were in a rented car at an isolated temple in Yokosuka, about 98km southwest of Tokyo. Police said they found four charcoal stoves in the car, which was wrapped in blue plastic sheets and had its windows sealed from the inside. "We believe they all died after inhaling carbon monoxide from the charcoal," a police spokesman said. "We believe they got acquainted through the Internet." Police said the two cases had striking similarities. Evidence of a failed October 4 joint suicide attempt by two of the women - one from each vehicle - had led investigators to believe the latest suicides had been planned together, Japanese media quoted police as saying. "We found no traces of violence that could have otherwise led to their deaths," he said. Empty cans of liquor were found inside the car and a box of sleeping pills near the silver vehicle, Kyodo news agency said. No religious prohibitions exist in Japan against suicide and it has long been seen as a way to escape failure or of saving loved ones from embarrassment for financial loss. However, it has also been stigmatised as a shameful, taboo subject. Cases dubbed by the Japanese media as "Internet suicide" pacts started to come to the fore in 2003. A total of 34 people killed themselves in such pacts last year, according to police data. Police have asked Internet service providers to disclose information about those who post plans about suicides on the Web. However, experts say it is pointless to blame the Internet and that a closer look should be taken at the society in which they occur. **PHOTO CAPTION*** The car in which four men and three women were found dead, is seen at a police station in Chichibu, north of Tokyo October 12, 2004. (REUTERS)