Couple attempts suicide, citing financial woes

(ANSA) – Bologna, December 2 – Police rescued a married couple from an attempted suicide on Tuesday, after the couple’s daughter alerted the authorities to a suicide letter she found at the couple’s home. The man, a 62-year-old small-business owner, and his wife, a 60-year-old home maker, were found semiconscious in their car, where they had left a gas cylinder open after having ingested large quantities of the anti-anxiety drug Lorazepam, commercially known in Italy as Tavor.

On Sunday, a neighbor alerted the woman’s 24-year-old daughter that the couple and their dog were missing from their home. The woman’s daughter called authorities on Sunday afternoon, after finding a suicide letter in which the couple explained their intention to kill themselves due to their economic difficulties. A motorist spotted the couple’s car on Monday morning in an open field in an area south of Modena between the areas of Castello di Serravalle and Zocca and called authorities, who had been searching for the couple. The man and woman were taken to hospital in Vignola and may need treatment in a hyperbaric chamber but are not in life-threatening condition.