Fatal Fall From Pontcysyllte aqueduct

[Tim Lewis]

BBC News article:

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-36415232

 

Tim

[Dharl]

sad news

[zimzim]

Very sad. I wondered whether this was a fall from a boat or a pedestrian on the path, but then I read...

 

North Wales Police said they were alerted to the incident at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Llangollen shortly after 1am this morning.

[mayalld]

Very sad. I wondered whether this was a fall from a boat or a pedestrian on the path, but then I read...

 

North Wales Police said they were alerted to the incident at the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct near Llangollen shortly after 1am this morning.

 

Doesn't actually prove 1 way or another.

 

I've encountered people behaving in oddly dangerous ways in the area very late at night.

[nicknorman]

Unfortunately I'd say there's a good chance it was a suicide. But with this being a taboo subject in the UK we may never know - which is no help to anyone else contemplating suicide. They will continue to think that they are the only ones who have ever felt that way.

[David Schweizer]

Unfortunately I'd say there's a good chance it was a suicide. But with this being a taboo subject in the UK we may never know - which is no help to anyone else contemplating suicide. They will continue to think that they are the only ones who have ever felt that way.

 

Someone had "fallen" fron the aqueduct when we went there a few years ago, subsequent Police investigation revealed that was a suicide, and apparently not the first.

[Allan(nb Albert)]

Unfortunately I'd say there's a good chance it was a suicide. But with this being a taboo subject in the UK we may never know - which is no help to anyone else contemplating suicide. They will continue to think that they are the only ones who have ever felt that way.

CaRT accepts that the Pontcysyllte aqueduct is a 'suicide hotspot' (their terminology), the only one on their waterways. I seem to recall that early in 2015 they were in discussion with the Samaritans after two suspected suicides in a couple of months. Not sure if anything came of this initiative.

[8 Hairy Feet]

At Beachy Head and on The Menai Bridge there

are telephones to connect directly to The Samaritans.

Perhaps one should be installed there anyway.

[ditchcrawler]

At Beachy Head and on The Menai Bridge there

are telephones to connect directly to The Samaritans.

Perhaps one should be installed there anyway.

Serious question, do they help and get used.

[gazza]

At Beachy Head and on The Menai Bridge there

are telephones to connect directly to The Samaritans.

Perhaps one should be installed there anyway.

Also the Orwell Bridge on the A14 at Ipswich.

 

I had an early morning walk at Beachy Head when visiting my grandparents in Eastbourne. It was a dull miserable morning, just as I got back to the car I was approached by one of the beachy head chaplaincy team to see if I was ok.

 

http://www.bhct.org.uk/wp/category/team-news/

 

They seemed surprised I was only up there for an early morning walk.

[ditchcrawler]

Also the Orwell Bridge on the A14 at Ipswich.

 

.

I thought there was but not 100% so didn't post.

[8 Hairy Feet]

Serious question, do they help and get used.

I'm sorry I do not know the answer to that.

[magnetman]

I have 4 suicides in my wider family (mother, 2 uncles and a cousin).

 

One of my uncles attempted a fall from height but landed on someone so he used a shotgun instead which worked.

 

The other 3 (my mum, a cousin and another uncle) all chose hanging as their preferred technique.

 

I'm not surprised if Ponty silty aqueduct is a bit of a hotspot but also not sure what can be done about it anyway?

 

I would not choose such a high structure personally. Its a long way down and you might change your mind

 

Anyway its sad really but maybe not as sad as someone one living in an unbearably depressed state of mind

 

I think an express train is probably quite a good option.

 

Edit to remove a bit as I was repeating myself

Also the Orwell Bridge on the A14 at Ipswich.

 

I had an early morning walk at Beachy Head when visiting my grandparents in Eastbourne. It was a dull miserable morning, just as I got back to the car I was approached by one of the beachy head chaplaincy team to see if I was ok.

 

http://www.bhct.org.uk/wp/category/team-news/

 

They seemed surprised I was only up there for an early morning walk.

I think I would be tempted to jump rather than have to deal with ruddy patronising Christians

Edited May 31, 2016 by magnetman

[David Mack]

I think an express train is probably quite a good option.

Not for the train driver, some of whom never recover from such an experience. Or for the people who have to collect the body parts from the track.

[magnetman]

That's a fair point but I assumed that people working around trains would receive proper training to help them deal with that sort of inevitable outcome.

 

Also anyone reaching the point of successfully completing a suicide has by definition no longer any interest in the future so you could argue that whatever happens afterwards to anyone is entirely irrelevant.

 

Sorry if it sounds a bit blunt !

 

One can limit the damage caused to loved ones but strangers probably don't really count when it comes down to it. I sometimes wonder about the mental health nurse and policeman who found my mum hanging from a clothes hook on her bedroom door with bleeding wrists but in the end they are strangers doing a job of work and they presumably understand what the job might entail. Nobody forced them to do a job which might involve dealing with dead people.

 

OK the train thing is a bit gory but the same applies IMO

[Robbo]

That's a fair point but I assumed that people working around trains would receive proper training to help them deal with that sort of inevitable outcome.

 

I don't believe anyone can really be trained for it.

 

 

OK the train thing is a bit gory but the same applies IMO

 

That's like saying it should apply to all car drivers as no one is forcing them to drive.

[magnetman]

 

 

Ok

[RLWP]

I think I would be tempted to jump rather than have to deal with ruddy patronising Christians

 

Just for clarity, The Samaritans is not a christian organisation.

 

Richard

[magnetman]

 

Just for clarity, The Samaritans is not a christian organisation.

 

Richard

I know that. The Beachy Head lot did seem to be when I clicked on their link

[nicknorman]

Also anyone reaching the point of successfully completing a suicide has by definition no longer any interest in the future so you could argue that whatever happens afterwards to anyone is entirely irrelevant.

 

 

 

But the point surely is that your sentence only applies AT THE MOMENT THEY PERPETRATE THE ACT and, with appropriate medical intervention, they may well be able to make a recovery and "see the light at the end of the tunnel". They are probably mentally ill and, just like any other illness, surely the best course of action is to treat the illness rather than just letting the die?

 

Suicide does seem to be an odd state of mind. In some cases people seem outwardly healthy and happy but some inner demon takes over and they will calmly and calculatedly go about ending their lives. Of course very often the exact reason isn't known but IMO it is generally the consequence of a brain malfunction leading to an irrational decision rather than something that could be justified to a normal rational person.

[magpie patrick]

Hotspots come about for many and sometimes unknown reasons, suicide like so many other human conditions has trends and once somewhere becomes known as a place for jumping then the reputation sticks, rather as it would for many other less tragic activities.

 

Do the signs work? Well, by the time someone has got as far as going to the location they have already shown resolve to kill themselves, so it's unlikely anything would have a particularly high success rate. What the signs do is give reason to think, and they will have some effect - however the only bit that is measurable is if they ring the Samaritans and say they have seen the sign, it is possible the sign is enough for someone to turn back without recourse to phoning, or that they phone and don't say why (the Samaritans do not use caller ID so they wouldn't know where the caller was unless the caller told them)

 

If you'll pardon the expression, signs are playing the game of averages in a desperate situation - on average they will do some good and will do no harm

[Jerra]

That's a fair point but I assumed that people working around trains would receive proper training to help them deal with that sort of inevitable outcome.

My brother was before he retired a fireman and he frequently had to gather body parts from M6 crashes etc and no amount of training or "getting used to it" lessened the effect on him.

[David Mack]

My brother was before he retired a fireman and he frequently had to gather body parts from M6 crashes etc and no amount of training or "getting used to it" lessened the effect on him.

A girl I knew at school lived in a house backing onto the railway. From her bedroom window she could see a group of men in hi vis jackets with bin bags recovering the bloodied body parts of someone killed by a train (although I don't know if that was suicide or trespass- the end result was the same). Not a pleasant experience for a teenage girl. Should she have been trained for this?

[ditchcrawler]

My brother was before he retired a fireman and he frequently had to gather body parts from M6 crashes etc and no amount of training or "getting used to it" lessened the effect on him.

Especially if children are involved.

[twbm]

Having dealt with dozens and dozens of sudden deaths including a number of suicides by various means first hand I can you that either you get immune to it or you don't. There is no amount of training or counselling that will change that. I was fortunate enough to be able to get on with the job in hand and move on but a number of colleagues were clearly very much affected by such incidents no matter how often they dealt with them.