A couple of 80-year olds ended their lives on Sunday afternoon in De Panne by jumping from the top floor of an apartment building on the Hendrik Consciencelaan in De Panne. The couple had lived there for more than 30 years, but a few months ago they were admitted to a nursing home because their physical capacity deteriorated.
Occasionally the couple returned to their apartment. According to a witness they made their fatal leap, hand in hand, from the ninth floor. The emergency services responded quickly, but to no avail. The man was 86, his wife 87 years old.
Mayor of De Panne, Ann Vanheste (SP.A), said to VTM news: “It is terrible to lose two people that way.” "You do not know what's going on in those people, whether we could have helped them or not."
The Brussels Times
