People should call the 24-hour 1995 hotline if they have suicidal thoughts, police said following two cases involving suicide last month.
On July 11, a couple was found dead at a hotel in Taoyuan in what investigators said were suicides using poison.
That case followed one a day earlier in which a man in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District (三重) allegedly stabbed his wife to death before driving to Yangmingshan National Park, where he allegedly strangled his baby son before committing suicide.
Photo: Screen grab from Taiwan Lifeline International’s Facebook page
Police and social workers said that the 24-hour toll-free 1995 Hotline-for-Life should be used if people are experiencing emotional or psychological stress, are unable to cope with problems or are contemplating taking their life.
Alternatively, they can use the “1925” hotline, which is run by health agencies, they said.
Both numbers have counselors who offer support to callers to help them deal with personal problems, they said.
Police said that there was no sign of foul play in the room where the couple’s bodies were found in the poisoning case in Taoyuan’s Pingjhen District (平鎮).
A half-finished soft drink was found, which investigators said might have been laced with a deadly chemical.
The couple’s two young children, who were in the room, told police that their parents said: “We are very sorry,” before drinking the beverage.
They did not wake up, the children told investigators.
Friends of the couple told police that the husband, surnamed Chou (周), 46, and the wife, surnamed Tai (戴), 42, had intermittent work in Hsinchu City, but had incurred debt of NT$1 million (US$30,592).
The couple had moved to the hotel in Taoyuan in May, where the proprietor offered a room in exchange for cleaning and other work at the establishment, investigators said.
Following the deaths of the parents, Taoyuan social workers have helped the children, ensuring they are attending school and are being taken care of by relatives.
Financial stress likely led to the suicide, friends and relatives told police.
In the Sanchong case, police responded to a call on the night of July 9 and found the wife, surnamed Liu (劉), 43, dead in a bathroom at her home with seven knife wounds.
Officers searched the area and asked neighbors about the husband, Liao Hsuan-yung (廖軒詠), 42, who had been seen taking the couple’s nine-month old away in a car.
Police located the vehicle near a bridge underpass in a mountainous area of Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) and the bodies of Liao and the child.
Investigators said that Liao apparently strangled the infant then killed himself by hanging.
The couple had been getting financial support from their families, as both had lost their jobs at companies in Taipei’s Nangang Software Park, investigators said.
However, family members and friends said that the murder-suicide arose from an argument over Liao’s previous marriage.
Liao’s former wife had contacted him and wanted to patch things up, they said, adding that Liu had discovered the two were communicating on social media.
The investigation continues.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS