Umm Al Quwain: In yet another suspected case of teen suicide in the UAE, a 16-year-old Indian girl died after falling off the window of her sixth floor apartment in Umm Al Quwain on Sunday, sources told Gulf News.
The police said she was suffering from psychological problems.
This is the second case of Indian teens dying after falling from UAE high-rises within two days.
The death of the girl from Kerala identified as M.F. early morning on Sunday came as another shock to the Indian community which was yet to recover from a similar death of another girl from the south Indian state.
Identified as N, the 15-year-old Sharjah girl, the only child of her parents, had died after a fall from her 10th floor apartment around 10pm on Friday.
Though both cases are suspected as suicides, police in the respective emirates are yet to officially confirm this to the media as investigations are still underway.
Umm Al Quwain Police said M.F had been suffering from psychological problems for two months and was being treated in a clinic in Sharjah.
Depression, actual cause
The death certificate of M.F. issued by the Preventive Medicine Department of the Ministry of Health and Prevention cited that she was suffering from bipolar affective disorder with a current episode of severe depression.
Though the fall led to intracerebral haemorrhage that is cited as the direct cause of death, the death notification, a copy of which is seen by Gulf News, cites her mental disorder that generally causes severe mood swings as the actual cause of death.
A distant relative said she had complained of headache and took medicine before going to bed on Saturday night.
Police said the girl was sleeping with her mother and grandmother in the same room.
Early in the morning she got up and opened the window of the apartment and jumped. The police were notified by people who saw her on the ground.
The police were called by municipality workers who saw the girl, according to a neighbour.
Social worker Ashraf Thamarassery who is assisting her family with the legal formalities told Gulf News that her family learnt about the tragedy only when the police went to the house around 5.30am.
The family woke up for the morning prayer when the police knocked on the door.
He said the girl’s elder brother, who is studying engineering back home and maternal grandmother, had come here on a visit. Her younger sister was also at home.
“Her father had gone to Kerala. He will reach tonight. I was called by her uncle to help with the legal procedures,” he said.
“It is very tragic that young children are taking extreme steps like this. We are all shocked and disturbed,” he added.
Police said the mother had a nervous breakdown following the tragedy and was hospitalized. She was discharged later.
The case is currently at the prosecution.
Neighbours shocked
Meanwhile, a shocked neighbour told Gulf News that the girl might have climbed on something to jump over the window.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said there is no balcony in the building located in King Faisal Street.
“Our windows have safety grilles that cover almost half of the window from outside. It looks like she climbed on top of something to jump over the safety grille.”
He said many neighbours including himself got to know about the incident later in the morning and were shocked and saddened.
“It happened early in the morning. I heard the municipality cleaners, who came for waste collection, first saw her body and informed the police.”
Her body was soon shifted to Umm Al Quwain Hospital.
He said neighbours remembered the girl as a silent child. Her family has been living in the same building for many years.
She was a student of an Indian curriculum school owned by an Arab national.
The relative said the family prefers the burial in the UAE once the investigation and other legal formalities are over.
“Many relatives are flying in from Kerala to attend the burial,” he said.
