The 19 year-old teenage boy’s last three Weibo posts documenting his very public suicide
The Chinese internet is reeling today after a 19 year-old from Sichuan Province live broadcasted his suicide on Sina Weibo and signed off permanently after posting heart-broken messages about his recent breakup. His posts drew more than more than 130,000 reposts online.
The teenager, surnamed Zeng, wrote more than 60 chilling posts on Weibo between the evening of November 29 and noon on November 30, each expressing his wish to die. By noon on the 30th, his Weibo account, which goes by the name “Neuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…“, had attracted close to 33,000 followers. His last post at 12:34 pm said: “At the last moment of my life, you even blacklisted me,” without revealing whether it was Sina blocking his messages or his former girlfriend blocking him on her Weibo.
Some netizens contacted local police when his posts went viral, but it was already too late. He was found in a deep induced coma with sleeping pills nearby and had apparently suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning. He was pronounced dead at hospital.
Chinese netzens were left shaken by his chilling, detailed, and very public death. All of his suicide-related posts were later deleted from Sina at the request of his family.
As tragic as this case is, it’s not the first time somebody has committed suicide so publicly. A professor of mass media from Nanchang University said there were 21 cases of live suicides broadcast on Sina during the first three years Weibo was in operation.
Perhaps the only thing more chilling than the teenager’s tragic suicide was the thousands of online users that clicked “Like” for each of his suicide posts without bothering to help.
Photos: Sina Weibo; eklablog