Internet posting leads to four people commit suicide in Japan
Four people were found dead at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday in a car stopped on a mountain road near Kobe,Japan. Traces of hydrogen sulphide were detected inside the car, police said, adding they believe it was a group suicide. According to police, the four were a 29-year-old man from Kanazawa, a 50-year-old woman from Osaka Prefecture, a 22-year-old male university student from Hyogo’s Amagasaki City, and a 19-year-old woman from Asago City. The car is believed to have belonged to the 19-year-old woman. On Monday, police had received a call from the operator of a mobile phone website saying that someone had posted on a message board that they were thinking of committing suicide.
Police are investigating whether the four met on the website and plotted to kill themselves together. The post included vague language hinting at suicide along with a request to meet at 10:30 a.m. on June 28 at JR Kakogawa Station. The post was made on June 25 and erased in the afternoon of June 28.
