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TOKYO-Hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes in northern Japan on Thursday over fears about hydrogen sulphide gas produced by a man who used it to commit suicide, the latest in a series of such cases.A family member called emergency services after finding a 24-year-old man collapsed at his home in the city of Otaru in the northern island of Hokkaido in the early hours of the morning, local police said. He taken to hospital but later declared dead.The man's 58-year-old mother was also taken to hospital suffering from the effects of the gas, the police spokesman said.Television showed about 350 people being evacuated in the dark from their homes in the area to the grounds of a local primary school. They were allowed to return home later.Suicides by hydrogen sulphide, which can be made from household detergent, are a growing problem in Japan. At least 40 cases have been reported this year, public broadcaster NHK said last month, citing the Japan Suicide Prevention Association.Japan has the second-highest suicide rate in the Group of Eight nations after Russia, according to the World Health Organisation.The annual number of suicides has been above 30,000 for nine years in a row, police figures showed last year.The National Police Agency this week urged Internet service providers to delete information from websites about how to make hydrogen sulphide, which is touted as "an easy way to die"."There are many cases of suicide and they often harm people living nearby," the police agency said in a letter to a number of groups representing Internet providers.To read more go to:
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