Saudi reports 40 suicides in 2009

Forty people killed themselves in Saudi Arabia in 2009 and nearly 90 per cent of them were males, a local newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The dead included 11 Saudis and 29 expatriates but the number of actual suicides could be higher as many families do not report such cases, Shams Arabic language daily said, quoting Dr Abdullah Al Dousari, deputy director of the Forensic Medicine Department in Riyadh.

“The suicides took place mostly at work or isolated places at home,” he said. “They were mainly committed by fire arms…other methods were hanging, taking large amounts of drugs and throwing themselves from high places.”