Quadruple suicide in Hubei a mystery

Four people committed suicide on Tianmen mountain, a tourist attraction in Hubei province, on Tuesday.

According to a notice released by the press office of Zhangjiajie's Yongding district, three men jumped off a cliff. A woman who accompanied them was prevented from jumping, but she had taken poison and also died.

Later, the local police established a special group to investigate, and all members confirmed that the deaths were all suicides. They ruled out criminal behavior and other possibilities.

One of the men who died, surnamed Zhang, was 23. His household registration shows he is from Dehua county, Fujian province, Changjiang Daily reported. His cousin said that family members were on their way to Zhangjiajie.

"He is the only son in the family. After graduation from junior high school, he worked in other regions, most recently in Guangdong province. There was no sign of anything abnormal before his death," the cousin said. "He told his mother that he was going to travel. His family was not acquainted with the others who killed themselves."

A village committee worker in Zhang's hometown told Changjiang Daily that there was nothing unusual in his family before this tragedy.

"His family is poor. He often worked outside and I didn't see him very often," the worker added.

The second male, surnamed Liu, came from Henan province, Xin'an Evening News reported. His 61-year-old father said his son has two older sisters and a grandmother at home.

"When he was 7, his mother died of cancer. When he was 10, I became paralyzed because of a stroke," the father said.

Liu was looked after by his grandmother when he was a child. He eventually went south to work when he was 16 or 17 to relieve his family's burden. Later he married. His son is 13 years old this year. But Liu has not come back much and had little contact with his family.

"He would return home every few years. We have had little contact, and I don't know much about his marriage. Several years ago, I heard that he had divorced and that the child was taken care of by his ex-wife," the father said.

In the father's view, his son is an honest man. Although he did not earn much money as a security guard, he could at least take care of himself, he said.

"A couple of weeks ago, he suddenly returned home to see his family. Three or four days later, he left. I never thought that he would take his own life," the father added.

The third male who died, surnamed Peng, comes from Ligutuo village in Handan, Hebei province, Xin'an Evening News reported.

A resident said he had been a classmate of Peng's brother.

"There are four children in his family and they are in very poor condition," the resident added.

The female who died, surnamed Chen, was 23 and came from Simeiqiao village in Shijia township of Neijiang, Sichuan province. A resident told Changjiang Daily that there were four people in her family. The woman was a migrant worker in the service industry.

Xiaowen, Chen's classmate in junior high school, said she was surprised when she heard the news.

"We were good friends in school. She was an outgoing girl and worked in a beauty shop. I have no idea of her current job and want to figure out what happened," Xiaowen said.