Chinese teenager commits live online suicide

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A teenager in southwest China's Sichuan province committed suicide while broadcasting live on his microblog, a Chinese Twitter-like service.

The youth, Zeng, was found unconscious in his house by police Sunday afternoon and taken to hospital where he died.

Prior to his suicide, he had posted dozens of microblogs, expressing depression and loneliness.

"I decided to leave the world after deep consideration, don't persuade me to live. I just hope it won't be too painful," Xinhua quoted a typical post as stating.

He prepared himself with hypnotic drugs, tapes and coal for suicide then took the drugs and burned the coal Sunday morning.

"I cannot save myself any more as the drugs took effect and I lost strength completely... "wrote his last microblog.

Police started to search for him after tip-offs.

"He told me that he fell in love with a girl online, but he was not sure whether she loved him," Zeng's grandmother said."His parents were divorced when he was two years old and he lived with his mother. However, some years later, his mother remarried. So he has since lived with me."

"I love you, but I'm sorry, I will disappear quickly," Zeng wrote before his death.

During the process, many tried to persuade Zeng not to do it, but to no avail. Others criticised him as an attention seeker.

"The process lasted for more than four hours, but it's regrettable that we failed to save him," said a netizen.

There have been several similar cases in China.

"Such cases have a negative impact on society, especially those young men who have psychological problems. They may follow suit," said Zhang Mingsuo, a sociology professor at Zhengzhou University in central China's Henan Province.

"The government should take timely measures to reduce such tragedies. Schools and communities should also provide psychological consulting to help prevent suicide attempts," he said.