97 suicides on the Belgian railway in 2014

97 suicides on the Belgian railway in 2014

97 suicides took place on the Belgian railway last year, three quarters of which were in Flanders. This was reported by L’Avenir on Tuesday. The Belgian railway registered 97 suicides last year, which is almost identical to the year before (95), and slightly less than 2012 (102). The number of suicide attempts shot up in 2014: 103, compared to 68 in 2013 (+ 51.47%). In total, suicides and suicide attempts caused 89,642 minutes of delays, “a daily average of four hours”, explains Infrabel, the railway manager.

The 103 suicide attempts led to 24 serious injuries. “An incident is registered as a suicide attempt when a driver or a witness sees someone on the edge of the track withdraw quickly when a train approaches”, explains a spokesman. Infrabel has tried to reduce the number of suicide attempts, by putting fences along the rails, for example. 

(Source: Belga)


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