On Monday May 23rd, a 14-year-old girl committed suicide at her home in Fraccionamiento del Sur, in southern Mérida. This is the fifth self-inflicted death of a person under 15 years of age registered in the state of Yucatan this year.
This case is added to the three juvenile suicides registered in Mérida, Valladolid and Umán, whose ages were 17, 19 and 20 years old, occurred during May.
So far this year, five children have commited suicide in the State, which is the same number of cases occurred in one full year, back in 2016.
About this new case, Milenio Novedades reported that the mother heard a loud noise coming from the room of her 14-year-old daughter, and as she entered the room, she found the girl hanging with a hammock around her neck.
With the help of her partner she took the girl down and immediately called the emergency services, but when the paramedics arrived the girl had no vital signs and there was nothing to do.
Personnel from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and Expert Services of the State Attorney General’s Office came to the place to carry out the removal of the body and conclude the legal proceedings.
The autopsy performed by the Forensic Medical Service confirmed that the cause of death was suffocation due to suspension.
In 2017, two children commited suicide, one male and one female, the latter a 9-year-old girl who hanged herself in her home in Komchén.
Statistics indicate that in 2016 five children committed suicide in Yucatán: four boys and one girl.
According to the Mental Health Unit of the Ministry of the State Health Secretariat, depression is the main cause of suicide, and among the factors mentioned are economic problems, family dysfunction, terminal illnesses and substance addictions, in that order.
Source: SIPSE