A teen boy was rescued after he jumped from the Demerara Harbour Bridge in a bid to end his life early yesterday morning.
The 17- year-old reportedly confided in an older man about issues he was having at home and his decision to end his life.
However, the man tracked him to the bridge, where he managed to grab the youth’s feet as he jumped.
As a result, the teen’s body slammed onto a beam on the bridge but he subsequently fell into the river. He spent about 30 minutes in the water before he was rescued by Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD) workers.
One of the workers told Stabroek News that the teen braced onto a buoy during the time he was in the river.
The worker said a rope was thrown to the teen and he was pulled ashore. Police transported him to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH), where he was treated and then discharged.
A relative of the teen told Stabroek News that the boy has made about six previous attempts to end his life but he has always been rescued.
Relatives said the teen, who dropped out of school since he was 10-years-old, had been living with one of them for about two weeks after he was put out of the home of his grandmother because he became delinquent.
He had previously been employed as part of a team that was contracted to clean the city.
A younger brother told Stabroek News that he learned to swim about two years ago when he saw his older brother hanging from a tree over a trench.
The younger brother, who was only nine years old at the time, said although he did not know how to swim, he jumped into the trench and swam across. He managed to then cut his brother from the rope.
A relative said the teen has five siblings who have been living with different relatives since their parents separated.
