|
据英国《每日电讯》9月30日报道，日前，在伦敦一处停车场里，两名男子在汽车内自杀身亡。
警方在他们的车里发现了一盘燃烧着的木炭，断定他们死于一氧化碳中毒。警方透露，这二人分别是来自利物浦的25岁的克里斯多佛·阿斯顿和居住在伦敦西南部的42岁的玛丽亚·威廉斯。
今年2月，两人在一家自杀网站上约定结伴自杀后，阿斯顿前往伦敦与威廉斯会面。警方透露：“阿斯顿与威廉斯偶然在网上寻找与‘自杀’有关的网站时相识，并订下了‘同死契约’。后来，两人在自杀前还通过一次电话。”
法医称，这两名网友分别留下了遗言，他们都是完全自愿地选择了死亡。
英国预防青年人自杀慈善会成员柯克斯说，这起网友结伴自杀事件告诫人们必须对互联网加强管理。他说：“在日本，网友集体自杀案已经成为了一个日益严重的社会问题。我们担心发生那样的情况。那些召集网友集体自杀的网站应该被关闭。”
去年11月，仅一周多的时间里，日本的东京、群马、兵库以及福冈等地相继发生了集体自杀事件，共有13人自杀身亡。据死者家属介绍，几名死者原来并不认识，他们是通过自杀网站相识的。
Two strangers who met online killed themselves in what is thought to be Britain's first internet suicide pact.
Christopher Aston, 25, of Liverpool, and Maria Williams, 42, also known as Sanchez, from Deptford, south-east London, were found slumped in a car in a retail park in London with a tray of burning charcoal. They had died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
They had never seen each other before and had spoken only briefly on the telephone, an inquest in Southwark, south London, was told. The case prompted calls for websites promoting suicide to be banned.
Mr Aston travelled to London in February to see Miss Williams after they made contact on a suicide website.
Det Insp Brendan Butler, of Lewisham police, said: "He had limited contact with Maria Sanchez on the internet and on the phone shortly before their deaths. They had both researched internet sites about suicides at or around the time of this incident."
Andrew Sampson, the coroner, was told that the couple left separate suicide notes.
Recording a verdict of suicide in both cases, he said: "It was a voluntary incident. They both chose to be there."
Tony Cox, of the Parents for Prevention of Young Suicide charity, said the incident highlighted the need for greater regulation of the internet.
"Internet suicide seems to be a growing phenomenon in parts of the Far East, especially in Japan," he said. "We have been dreading the moment something like this would happen. We hope this is not the start of a trend. Websites that bring people like this together should be closed down."
|
