A 15-year-old girl “fell” from a residential building and died upon impact yesterday morning, Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesman Choi Ian Fai said in a statement yesterday.
According to the statement, the Fire Services Bureau (CB) notified the Judiciary Police at 8:11 a.m. yesterday that a female had died in a “fall” from a flat in Fai I Building of the Fai Chi Kei Social Housing Estate. The bureau requested PJ officers to go to the scene to investigate.
The girl’s mother told PJ officers that in the morning she had had an argument with her daughter, a Form 3 pupil, about her studies, and then left home to take her son to school. When she returned home at about 8 a.m., the firefighters told her that her daughter had died after “falling” from the building. According to preliminary investigations, the girl “fell” from the flat’s balcony onto the road. No suspicious wounds were found on the body and no suicide note was found at the scene, according to Choi’s statement.
The girl was a local resident surnamed Lai.
The case has preliminarily been classified as “a fall from a building”, and the corpse will undergo forensic examination. The case will be followed up by the PJ investigation department, the statement said.
Meanwhile, the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) said in a statement yesterday afternoon that the bureau was deeply saddened by the girl’s death, and expressed its deep condolences, promising to support the bereaved family.
After learning about the incident, the bureau immediately activated the school crisis mechanism, and sent supervisors to the school to coordinate counselling and follow-up work, hoping to reduce the impact of the incident on teachers and pupils, according to the statement.
The bureau urged pupils to confide in, and ask for help from those they trust or professional counsellors when encountering emotional distress or difficulties, and seek solutions to their problems in a positive manner.
Any teachers or pupils in need of help can contact their school counsellor or call the bureau’s Educational Psychological Counselling and Special Education Centre on 2840 1010.
People at risk of suicide, or those suspecting that a person is at risk of suicide, may also phone Caritas Macau’s Life Hope Hotline (28525222) or the Social Welfare Bureau’s (IAS) 24-hour Counselling Hotline (28261126).
