train suicide.

[maggie01]

I think someone wrote about the lady who threw herself and her children under a train. I have just read it myself in the paper. The mother must have been very disturbed to do this but why do they take the children with them. I know people won't agree with me but it is so so selfish. Whatever her problems it does not give her the right to take her childrens lives. Can anyone be so down or depressed to beleive they have a right to do this. Life is precious and no one has a right to take someone elses especially that of a child. It is very sad 

[january_bug]

I'm not saying he was, but maybe the father was abusing them all.  Or someone else was.  Maybe she thought that death was better than life, for all of them. 

I'm really not suggesting that that is/was the case here, I'm just saying that there's usually more to these things than meets the eye... in my opinion anyway. 

[flump1]

maggie01 It was indeed very sad and I wondered if you have answered your own question.If the lady was suffering from depression all logical thought would have deserted her. All she would have wanted was the pain to be gone. I talk from experience. So yes one can be so disturbed,(unbalanced) so that one is capable of the most awful act of taking others lives with thiers. She knew she would not be there for the children and the only option left to her in her fragile state was to take them with her.You of course are right life is precious especially that of a child and I agree it is a selfish act to take thier lives. She chose the only way she could see to end the pain she was in .I don't think the right comes into it , nobody has a right to anothers life.It was so very sad.

[netibiza]

I feel so bad for the 5yr old as she would be old enough to understand the terror of the fatal jump.  The baby hopefully wouldn't have understood, and as for the poor mother, hope they are all at peace now.

[Chessman]

I'm a train driver, have been for quite some time, and have often pondered this qestion, because throwing yourself under a train, quite often, is not fatal. I believe that in the majority of cases, the person has reached such depths, that the balance of their mind has gone, and there is no way out.  the people to feel for, are the train driver, because its a pretty traumatic experience, and the people left behind.  In this case, to take the children with her, I can't reall comment, because I wasn't in her shoes, but she obviously need help. and it wasn't there.        Sorry for going on, but this is something that close to me,every time you bring a train into the platform, you wonder if someone is going to jump, thats not just me, but probably most train drivers.

[flump1]

Oh Chessman in all our talk of the 'victim' the poor driver has been overlooked and I apologise . It must be a terrible thing for any driver to face,enough to put you off doing a great job I should think. And the train drivers do a great job. From all of us and there are sure to be a lot thank you for the job you do.I for one gave the driver little thought as my sympathy lay with the lady. Your post has changed that.

[kags]

I think it is a mistake to try and empathise with someone who is, or was suicidal. For the mother it my have been perfectly logical, or the only option she felt available to her at the time. Or she may have been deranged by fear or panic. We don't know, and we can't know. It is an absolute tragedy but not one that can be explained.

[Chessman]

Thanks flump1, its very nice of you to say that.

[january_bug]

I have to agree that I have always felt that throwing oneself in front of a train/bus/car is a very selfish way to commit suicide as there is a good chance that someone else will spend the rest of their lives feeling responsible for your death.  But as has been said, all logic has gone, and so presumably suicidal people don't think of the consequences for others of their actions. 

Chessman - I hope that your career can continue until its conclusion without you ever having to deal with this directly.  Ditto for your friends/relatives in the job. 

[maggie01]

I did apologise for not mentioning the train driver but for some reason it has not appeared so once again I apologise. For some reason we seem to think the trains run by themselves.

[Romeo]

It is not the first time a suicidal parent has taken their children with them. Perhaps they felt they didn't want their children to live without them. Perhaps they thought they might be united in an afterlife. It doesn't matter - there is no point in looking for some kind of reason as a suicide victim is not in a rational state of mind.

[Chessman]

Maggie01 and january_bug, Your comments are very much appreciared, the closest i've come is what we call a 'near miss' someone on the track, but you manage to stop in time, and other related incidents, unfortunately, one of the drivers at my depot had 'one under' on Tuesday just gone, and is now off sick, it will unfortunately always happen, probably about 25% of suicides under trains, are people let out on day release from mental homes, and thats another issue. but as I said at the start, your comments are appreciated, and taken in the way you meant them to be.

[Buddy]

What an absolute tragedy.Poor poor woman and of course the innocents.

I dont think we have to dissect the whys and wherefores.The poor soul had an absolute breakdown.

I along with anyone else who have children would put my life on the line for my two most precious people - what does that tell you.

I too have suffered from depression - its dire.Thankfully I didnt have the suicidal tendacies - or there must be a better life syndrome.There but for the grace of God.