The Suicide Attempt At MYCS Building

3 hours on the precipice of suicide

AUTHORITIES yesterday prevented a potentially tragic suicide attempt by a young woman believed to be undergoing counselling at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS).

The young lady, clad in a bright pink baju kurung, teetered on the ledge of the ministry's headquarters for over three hours yesterday afternoon, according to eyewitnesses.

Bystanders interviewed by The Brunei Times said the woman had been standing on the ledge of the roof since 2.30pm, threatening to jump, although the reason was still unknown as of press time.

According to a staff at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, who spoke on condition of anonymity, the young woman "was a resident of rumah kebajikan (welfare home) and was at the ministry for a counselling session".

Unconfirmed reports from those on the scene speculated that the young woman had run out midway through a counselling session. After doing so, she managed to make her way to the roof, where the tense standoff took place.

One of the bystanders, Saat Hj Masri, commented that the woman must have been familiar with the building in order to gain access to the roof, which is above the eighth floor of the structure.

"She must either work there or go there very often, otherwise how would she know how to get to the top of the roof?" said the senior citizen.

Saat also said that the Fire and Rescue Department were quick to react to a distress call, and were the first to arrive on the scene.

Firemen scaled the building and tried to talk the young lady down from the ledge, but every time someone moved closer toher, the woman stepped further away.

Hundreds of onlookers gathered to watch the drama unfold and created a major traffic jam along Jalan Kebangssan.

Sheikh Jamaluddin Sheikh Mohamed, a nearby resident and CEO of Brunei Tourism, said he heard police sirens upon leaving the office.

The police vehicles were travelling through dense traffic to get to the area. "I left the office at 4.30pm and (traffic) had already built up by then," said the senior government official. He joined other bystanders on the road leading to the ministry's compound.

The area was cordoned off by traffic police. However, the public had begun to park their vehicles and walk to the area.

By 4.30pm, Fire and Rescue personnel had set up a large green net above the main foyer of the MCYS building to break the woman's fall in case she jumped, and a giant inflatable mattress, akin to a stunt mattress, was also set up as another precautionary measure.

Authorities brought some of the young woman's family members on to the roof to appeal to her to come down off the ledge, where she had been standing for three hours under the sweltering afternoon sun. However, she remain unmoved and still refused to come down.

Around 5.40pm, a woman in an orange baju kurung, thought to be the young lady's sister, approached her and tugged at her skirt, which made the young woman turn around. She then stepped down from the ledge and was embraced by her sister, as authorities swooped in trying to bring the young woman to safety. The large crowd gathered around the MCYS compound applauded.

However, the young lady struggled against the officers and cried out hysterically as they tried to carry her to the emergency stairwell.

The Brunei Times team on the scene saw that it took three medical officers to bring the woman from the roof to the ambulance, where she was then taken to hospital.

Authorities on the scene of the incident and representatives from the Royal Brunei Police Force, Fire and Rescue Department and Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports all declined to comment when contacted by The Brunei Times. - The Brunei Times

Girl Saved From Alleged Suicide Bid

There was commotion outside a prominent high-rise building in the capital yesterday as a girl climbed onto the ledge of the top floor of the building in an alleged suicide attempt.

It took more than two hours of negotiation to get her down to safety.

Roads leading to the building were choc-a-bloc with traffic as many people returning home from work slowed down their vehicles to take a glimpse of the unfolding drama.

The incident also showed how Net-savvy the Bruneian public has become as many posted minute-by-minute account of the drama and the eventual rescue as it happened on social networks like Twitter and Facebook.

Many of the motorists also got down- from their cars to witness the incident, leaving a long trail of cars that needed the intervention of the police to clear.

The negotiators tried to coax the girl from trying to jump off the building, but they stayed a good distance away from her as she was standing on the edge.

The three-hour long drama finally ended when she allowed her hand to be held by a negotiator before she was taken off the ledge to safety. - Borneo Bulletin

21 yr old attempts suicide on govt building

Rescuers saved a youth from committing suicide at the Ministry culture Youth and Sports building.

A passerby said that he was on his way home when he encountered slow moving traffic, at the Jalan Kebangsaan. At first he thought it was an accident however he was shocked to see a woman in pink on top of the ministry building.

He and numerous other motorists stopped by the side of the road to see what the commotion was about. There were a blur of phone calls and short text messages by the motorists to family members or friends who worked at the Ministry.

It was discovered that the distraught youth is 21 years old from Kg Bengkurong and was said to be having a counselling session in the building, when she excused herself, what was presumed to be an excuse to the washroom. However when she did not return, it was presumed she left the building, until an alarm was set off indicating that the youth was on the roof.

There were no clear reasons why she was on the roof, what was certain was that she appeared to be under a lot of stress. The fire and rescue officials were called immediately, while councellors immediately tried to talk the youth down from the roof.

Rescuers, family members and counsellors coaxed the youth for two in a half hours to listen to reason and abandon her suicide attempt. At 515pm, they succeeded to the cheer of the amassing crowd below.

“Its good that it ended the way it did. The youth must’ve been very tired, she was swaying a lot on the roof. She was there since 3pm,” said a passerby who had witnessed the whole event. - The Social Reporter

and here are some more photos taken from various media and facebookers...

the traffic leading to MCYS building

you can see lots of curious onlookers watching the event...

the final moment when she was managed to get pulled away from the ledge...

thank god, nothing bad happened... but one thing for sure, she got more guts than I do... you won't see me standing on that ledge even if someone offered me 1 million dollars! huhuhu... yeah... i have height-phobia... eheh...