Chula student's Valentine suicide

A fourth-year engineering student jumped to his death from a Chulalongkorn University's dorm just minutes before St Valentine's Day began.

It remained unclear whether a broken heart or study-related stress drove Kittiphan Bamrungkarn, 24, to suicide.

He often told his mother that he loved a third-year student studying at the Faculty of Arts very much.

"His friends told me he was talking on the phone, like he was quarrelling with someone, before he suddenly sprang up and jumped to his death," Kittiphan's mother, Ornuma, said tearfully.

She said her son did not show any signs he was about to do something dramatic when he talked to her at around 5pm on Tuesday. "He only said he was concerned about his health. I was shocked to find that he had killed himself," Ornuma said.

According to his mother, Kittiphan already knew that he was going to receive a 100-rai plot of land in Chumphon as a graduation gift from his father.

She was also aware that Kittiphan had problems with his studies.

The undergraduate course at the Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Engineering usually takes four years. However, Kittiphan had yet to collect enough credits to qualify for the graduation at the end of this semester.

His younger sister, meanwhile, is set to graduate with firstclass honours from the Dhurakij Pundit University later this year.

Kittiphan spent one year at the Faculty of Science, before he sat the university entrance examination again and was admitted to the Faculty of Engineering.

Assoc Prof Boonsom Lerthiranwong, CU vice president for students' affairs, said Kittiphan had needed special care since he was a firstyear student.

"His way of thinking is not like others. He is among those students who are given oneonone counselling with psychologists and psychiatrists," Boonsom said.

Kittiphan was allowed to stay at a dorm for this semester only.

According to police, witnesses saw the body of Kittiphan fall past the ninth floor of the dorm at around 11.55 pm on Tuesday.

"I saw his body falling. When I rushed down to see his body downstairs he was still breathed feebly," said Ekalak Pongkaew, 20, who is also a secondyear student at the CU Faculty of Engineering.

Kittiphan's roommate said he was reserved and rarely talked to him.

In a related development, Mental Health Department's spokesman Dr Taweesilp Wissanuyothin said families and friends could prevent suicides because suicidal people generally showed certain signs before trying to kill themselves.

The Nation