On Friday, Japan-time, at least four people killed themselves by inhaling fumes from detergent mixed with other chemicals as a wave of similar suicides surges in Japan, reportedly claiming about 50 lives this month.

The International Herald Tribune reports that, “authorities are alarmed by the sudden rise in such incidents – an average of two a day were reported in April – because the chemicals are easy to get and the fumes could spread to sicken bystanders or rescuers.”

Toshiyuke Miyaki, a Tokyo Fire Department official, found a 47-year-old man who killed himself in a luxury hotel. Emergency workers also found a 29-year-old man dead in his Tokyo apartment; a man in his 50s at a northern Tokyo public gymnasium; and a man in his 30s in an apartment near Yokohama. They all used the same chemical ingredients to end their lives.

Japan’s government is battling to contain the country’s alarmingly high suicide rate. According to government figures, 32,155 people killed themselves in 2006.

To read the entire article from the International Herald Tribune, link here:

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