Manama: Nepalese officials in Qatar have voiced concern over the alarming rise in suicides committed by fellow citizens in the host country.
According to a senior diplomat at Nepal's embassy in Doha, there were 20 cases of suicide in the Nepalese community in 2010.
"The sharp rise in the number of suicides is a cause of great concern," he said. "In the previous year, 12 suicides were reported in the community," the diplomat said, quoted by Qatari daily Gulf Times.
Despite deploying extensive efforts the embassy has not been able to find the reasons why people are taking such extreme steps, he said.
Embassy records indicate that most of those who committed suicide were under the age of 25.
The total number of deaths among the Nepalese in Qatar fell to 191 in 2010 from 225 in 2009.
The diplomat attributed the drop to a combination of reasons, including the reduced number of Nepalese expatriates arriving to work in Qatar.
"A number of Nepalese nationals might have returned home following the completion of some large projects," he said.
The embassy puts the number of Nepalese in Qatar at around 350,000.
The diplomat said that of the 191 deaths last year, 103 (53 per cent) were due to heart-related ailments. In the previous year, the figure was 131 (58.20 per cent).
In 2010, there were 46 deaths (24.08 per cent) in road accidents and 19 (9.9 per cent) from accidents at work sites. Three died after they drowned.
The number of work site related accidents fell from 29 in 2009 to 19 in 2010.
