Published: Thursday November 1, 2007





More than one in 10 people who kill themselves in Manhattan are "suicide tourists" who travel to the Big Apple especially, often ending it all at one of the city's top landmarks, according to a study.

Among the top choices for out-of-towners taking their own lives were the iconic Empire State Building, Times Square and the George Washington Bridge, according to the study by the New York Academy of Medicine.

"I don't think any of us were aware or even conscious of thinking of suicide among tourists, that people would travel to a city specifically for that," the New York Daily News quoted study author David Vlahov as saying.

Some 274 suicides by non-residents were recorded in Manhattan between 1990 and 2004, more than half of them as a result of long falls from bridges and high-rise commercial buildings, including hotels, according to the report.

While most suicides result from overdoses, hanging or gunshot wounds, many people seek historic locations to die, says the study, due for release Monday.

"These places become suicide landmarks," the Daily News quoted another suicide expert, Richard Seiden, as saying. Killing yourself at a landmark "guarantees you a notoriety you may not have had otherwise," he added.


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