WITHIN the last 72 hours, two young Egyptian men threw themselves in front of passing Cairo Underground trains to put an end to their lives that became miserable either after the death of beloved ones, or because of poverty. “Fate is the only explanation for what happened to these two unfortunate young men,” says Hassan Khalil, a passer-by near el-Maasara and el-Khalafawi Metro Stations in northern Cairo, where the separate incidents have occurred on Monday and Tuesday. These two incidents should prompt sociologists and psychologists to explain why committing suicide under the wheels of Cairo's Underground Metro trains is becoming the most common method among the desperate young men and women, say the public. Some persons would say these suicides are a result of pressure, while others are of the view that they have occurred because the victims believed that “a swift death is the only solution to their chronic problems”. “There are elements within the life of these two young men, which compelled them and left death as their only option,” Naguib Ashaam Allah, a pharmacist in the Cairo neighbourhood of Hadayek el-Qubba, said, adding the issue must also be seen in the context of economic and emotional hardships against young people and their status in society. According to police reports, the victims, who were both unemployed and in their mid twenties, could have committed suicide due to emotional and economic reasons. "There is economic and emotional pressure on the young people. They can't make their own decisions, and limits are imposed on them," Ashaam Allah said. Commentators from private TV channels blamed economic hardships and frustration that permeates the whole society for El-Khalafawi and el-Maasara suicide incidents, which grabbed headlines. "The Government should be held responsible for these two incidents because it failed to provide the youth with appropriate living and economic conditions," one angry young man told a talk show aired by a private TV channel on Tuesday night. He also accused the Government of over looking the problems of the young people. "These problems such as unemployment put the young people under constant stress that drives them into despair, fleeing out of the country, extremism, doing drugs, or committing suicide under the wheels of the metro, which is more merciful than this harsh life," he said.
