Suicide among Indian workers has recently been frequent due to mostly job-related problems, according to the police. “The rate of suicides among Indian workers is escalating as a result of employment problems and inability to support family back home,” said Colonel Yusuf Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior in the Eastern Province. He said police investigations and findings of suicides, which are thorough and exhaustive, point out to job and financial problems as the main reasons why workers resort to ending their lives. He said police investigations and procedures in cases of suicides are comprehensive. “Police coroners do meticulous investigation of suicide; they talk to people who know the victim, inspect the evidence of the suicide, and most important of all establish the reason or reasons why the victim committed suicide. Only after these major procedures are completed will the police coroners attest to the suicide,” Al-Qahtani said. He said the final steps are contacting the sponsor of the victim and nearest relatives. “Delays in the conclusion of a suicide case are usually due to inability of the police to establish the identity of the sponsor, especially if the victim came to the Kingdom by buying his visa, and contacting the family. Sometimes relatives of the victims are located in far-flung villages where there are no means of communications,” he explained. He said shipment of the remains and arranging with the airlines can easily be done if the above steps are settled right away. “The police want expeditious repatriation of the remains. But if the procedural requirements, such as contacting the sponsors and relatives, are not resolved the shipment of the body is delayed,” Al-Qahtani said. This weekend another Indian worker, Palkulath Veettil Muhammed Hussain Kasim Kunju, 45, committed suicide by hanging himself at the staircase of his apartment in the Al-Khaleej District Dammam. Police are investigating the case and trying to establish the reason why Kunju committed suicide. Kunju, from Kerala, arrived in the Kingdom about a year ago and was working as free-lance family driver, meaning he bought his visa in coming to the Kingdom. He has a wife and three children back in Thiruvanthapuram District, Kerala. The South Indian state of Kerala is known to have a high rate of suicides. People from that state commit suicide for rather insignificant reasons, like failing an examination, disappointments in career, lack or loss of job, financial problem, debts, and sudden illness. Last April a husband and a wife from Kerala committed suicide in Dammam due to health problems. __
