Indian parents allegedly committed suicide by jumping off of a multi-storey building after killing their two children – a daughter and son, aged 11 and 13 respectively on Tuesday, police said.
The man jumped off the eighth-floor apartment along with his two wives. Of the two women, one has survived but is critical, police said.
The incident took place in Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh state early Tuesday, a senior police official said.
Apartment complex security personnel and neighbours of the deceased said they heard screams from inside the flat before the suicide. The family was also known to have regular quarrels, they added.
India has the highest suicide rate in South-East Asian, according to a recently released World Health Organisation (WHO) report.
The report released in September this year and ahead of World Suicide Prevention Day pegged India’s suicide rate at 16.5 suicides per 100,000 people. Sri Lanka stands second in the region with a suicide rate of 14.6 with Thailand (14.4) third.
India also had the third-highest female suicide rate (14.7) in the world after Lesotho (24.4) and the Republic of Korea (15.4).
According to the Indian Journal of Psychiatry, suicide is the third leading cause of death among young adults worldwide.