News of a 20-year-old University of Hong Kong student’s death in Wong Tai Sin yesterday has shocked the city, becoming the fourth such case in only five days.
The 20-year-old was found at around 6am yesterday morning, and was believed to have fallen from the roof of his apartment building at Upper Wong Tai Sin Estate, where he lived with his family, Oriental Daily reports.
Police are treating the case as suicide, and the student is reported to have left a suicide note.
According to local reports, a total of 20 student deaths have been recorded since September, when the academic year began. In comparison, Professor Paul Yip, director of the University of Hong Kong’s Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention, said that there are ordinarily around two cases of university student suicides during the same period each year.
The abnormally high number of student deaths this year has caused citywide alarm, resulting in an emergency meeting being called by the Education Department for tonight.
According to Ming Pao, Education Secretary Eddie Ng will meet with representatives from the Hong Kong Subsidised Secondary Schools Council, the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, the Committee on Home-School Co-operation, and psychologists.
Following the deaths of five Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) students, the university has introduced emergency measures to prevent further cases. According to the SCMP, a psychiatrist will visit CUHK once a week to visit students, while three new counsellors will join the student affairs office team. In addition, the university has appointed a panel of experts and students who had previously sought counselling, in order to review mental health issues in the student body and introduce measures to alleviate problems through CUHK-provided services.
In collaboration with the Federation of Youth Groups, the university has also announced plans for a midnight counselling hotline.
If you are experiencing depression or suicidal thoughts, please call the Samaritans’ 24-hour hotline at 2896 0000 for help.
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