‘Internet suicides’ shock Britain
Category: Internet
FIRST-year college student Natasha Randall was much liked by her friends, seemed happy and was not on drugs.
A week ago, the 17-year-old hanged herself in her bedroom in what police believe to be a chain of “copycat suicides” fuelled by a desire to become “tragic heroes” on the internet.
Natasha was the first girl to die in a series of seven unexplained suicides of youngsters in Bridgend, Wales.
In the past year, six men, aged between 18 and 27, from Bridgend and the surrounding area, had killed themselves. Most knew each other.
“Tasha would talk about hanging a lot. She was fascinated by it. Suicide had become a cool thing in our area,” Annie-Marie Eagle, Natasha’s friend, told the Sun.
The parents say that, even worse than their grief was “not knowing why” their children took their lives.
South Wales police, who are investigating Natasha’s computer, believe explanation of her death could lie in what experts describe as a search for “virtual immortality”.
“They (young people) may think it’s cool to have a memorial website ” one officer told the Times newspaper.
http://www.dispatch.co.za/article.aspx?id=170463
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