Two incidents of suicide occurred in Cairo on Monday. One young man jumped from the Cairo Tower in Zamalek and a second young man threw himself under a moving train at the Dar al-Salam metro station.
The first incident involved a man who jumped from the top floor of the Cairo Tower. Investigations revealed that he arrived at the tower at 10 am, bought an entrance ticket and ascended to the top floor alone. Half an hour later, tower security heard a loud noise, and when they went to investigate they found the young man’s body, said the state-owned Middle East News Agency (MENA).
According to MENA, the suicide victim, 31-year-old Mohamed Abdel Tawab, held an industrial diploma and lived in Fayoum Governorate. Upon examination of the body, he was found to have suffered several fractures throughout his body, as well as a fractured skull and hemorrhaging.
Eye witnesses said the victim was standing on the tower’s top floor and that he suddenly climbed over the iron fence and jumped.
Several hours after this incident, a dentist, 33-year-old Amr Mohamed Emam, threw himself in front of Marg-bound train at the Dar al-Salaam metro station. He died instantly.
Emam’s father said he was dealing with some family issues and had some psychological problems. According to MENA, he had been working in Saudi Arabia.
On Saturday, a prisoner in Daqahlia Governorate hung himself inside his cell. He was imprisoned for failure to pay his debts. Nineteen cases had been filed against him.
Suicide cases have become more common in Egypt in recent years. Some analysts believe that most suicides are due to the poor economic situation.
According to reports by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, there were 1160 cases of suicide in Egypt in 2005; 2355 in 2006; 3700 in 2007; 4200 in 2008; and over 5000 cases in 2009, an average of 14 suicides per day.
