On 27th April a young woman threw herself from an overpass over a railway line and was injured. PSP, who was aware of two other cases, has given advice to parents, writes Safe Communities Portugal.
Participating in a game called the 'Blue Whale' is believed to be the origin of this incident that which took place at Algarve railway line in the Ferreiras area of Albufeira.
The young woman, who was injured, was trying to meet the challenges posed by the administrators of an online game , originating in Russia, which is worrying the authorities of several countries because, in addition to inciting acts of self-mutilation, the eventual aim is for the player to commit suicide. The target audience is almost always teenagers weakened by problems such as depression and isolation.
According to the fire department commander, the young woman threw herself from the bridge that crosses the railway line in Ferreiras and “suffered multiple injuries in the lower limbs”, and was hospitalised in Faro.
“In the hospital the victim said she was under great pressure and that she threw himself from the bridge in a state of despair,” António Coelho said to PÚBLICO, relating this situation to the game 'Blue Whale.'
Recently, an attempted suicide took place in Spain linked to this game. In Brazil, the phenomenon took on more dramatic proportions, with news of several dozen suicides committed by adolescents in at least eight states in the context of participation in the game.
Blue Whale includes 50 levels of difficulty, the last of which is the suicide of its players. The tasks that the mostly adolescent players are challenged to perform start with relatively innocuous things like listening to a particular song or video submitted by the administrators of the game.
Blue Whale reportedly targets players between 10 and 14 year old, pushing them into completing a list of pained daily tasks such as waking up in the middle of the night, cutting shapes into their skin or contemplating death.
As the game progresses over several week, participants reach a final task – committing suicide.
The game that has been spreading online among teens has led to warnings from police across Europe and Russia, Central Asia and North and South America.
Blue Whale began in Russia on VKontakte - the national equivalent to Facebook - and Russian police have been investigating the relationship between this and suicides over a previous months involving about 130 teenagers. More recently, in Colombia, police have detected that some 3,200 youths with Facebook profiles showing they have participated in the game.
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For more information on this, and other safety matters in Portugal, click on this Safe Communities Portugal website: http://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/
Telephone help and support services for suicide in Portugal and Europe
SOS – National Relief Service
112
SOS Voz Amiga
(between 16 and 24h00)
21 354 45 45
91 280 26 69
96 352 46 60
SOS Phone Friend
239 72 10 10
Friendship Phone
22 832 35 35
Listen – Voice of Support – Gaia
22 550 60 70
SOS Student
(8:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. )
808 200 204
Voices of Friends of Hope
(20h00 to 23h00)
22 208 07 07
Comments
But what is the chances of fully trained adult counsellors being employed in each Municipal up and down the land. For those adult wannabe foreign and non-local entrepreneurs attempting to start legal, licensed businesses in that concelho? These also are "weakened by problems such as depression and isolation" and for years no-one has spared a second to care for them.