It was a scenario all too common in Australia, which has one of the highest suicide rates in the Western world.
The final moments of the man's life, which unfolded before hundreds of lunchtime shoppers, including children, at Westfield shopping centre in one of richest Sydney's suburb - Bondi Junction have raised questions about whether shopping centre management handled the situation effectively.
Few minutes latter the man died.
This is also question for designers of public spaces.
1 comment:
Today is December 2nd, 2013. When I was at Westfield, Bondi Junction this afternoon, around 3pm, another person jumped from the same place. The area was cordoned off with tape as described in accounts of the 2010 event. The incident doesn't seem to be reported anywhere. I had gone down the escalator shortly before and saw a small group of people gathered at the top of one of the escalators looking up and down, but I didn't stop to see what they were looking at. It must have been the person jumping or getting ready to jump. Not long before that, I saw a young man in orthodox Jewish dress in the mall. He seemed fidgety and uncomfortable. I am wondering if this was the man who jumped today and if today's events are related to those reported on this thread from 2010. I cannot stop thinking about what happened today, wondering who was the person who jumped, why, was he the man I'd seen earlier? What a tragedy. No doubt people will always find a way, but Westfield needs to engineer safety nets or other such barriers to prevent this happening again.
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