Couple found dead in second suspected suicide pact in Hong Kong in two days
- Security guard contacted police after neighbours complained about odour coming from flat
- Case comes two days after another couple killed themselves and son, 7, by burning charcoal in bedroom
A 54-year-old man and his 56-year-old wife were found dead in a Hong Kong residential flat on Wednesday in a suspected suicide pact.
Emergency personnel rushed to Ho Shun Fuk Building on Sau Fu Street, Yuen Long shortly before 10.30am. A security guard had called police after residents complained about an odour coming from the seventh-floor flat.
“Firefighters forced open the door of the flat and found the bodies of the couple inside,” a police spokesman said.
He added that burnt charcoal was found at the scene.
A police source said initial investigation indicated the couple had been dead for about two weeks.
“The couple were last seen by their neighbours during Lunar New Year,” he said.
No suicide note was found at the scene but a statement issued by a finance company showed the couple were more than HK$100,000 (US$12,740) in debt, according to the source.
Records show the couple, Shum Tin-lung and Cheng Yuk-chi, bought the flat for HK$516,990 in 1990.
The source said officers were investigating the deceased’s backgrounds to establish why they committed suicide, adding that police would look into their medical history.
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In a separate murder-suicide case two days earlier, a couple killed themselves and their 7-year-old son by burning charcoal in their Western district flat.
Initial examinations showed the couple gave the boy sleeping pills before they burned charcoal in a closed bedroom of their Evergreen Tower flat on Second Street, police said.
The case came to light on Monday night when the family’s domestic helper returned to the flat and was unable to enter.
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According to police, the 42-year-old man, a clerk, and his 40-year-old wife, a property agent, were in financial trouble. The source said initial investigation showed they had lost millions of dollars in stock investments
Separately, a 28-year-old man was found dead in the storeroom at Block C of Yan Chai Hospital on Yan Chai Street, Tsuen Wan at about 10.40am on Wednesday. A suicide note was found at the scene. Police said initial inquiries found nothing suspicious.