Cluster of youth suicides in Welsh town

BRIDGEND, Wales, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- Two cousins hanged themselves this week, bringing the number of suicides among young people in one Welsh town to 16 in just over a year.

The deaths of Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, and Kelly Stephenson, 20, of Bridgend were apparently related. Stephenson, who was staying with her family in Kent, took her own life after hearing that her cousin, on life support in a Welsh hospital, was not expected to survive, The Telegraph reported.

Most of the suicides in Bridgend have been in their 20s and most have died by hanging. Nathaniel Pritchard was the youngest by several years.

"We just don't understand what is going on in Bridgend," said a relative of the two latest suicides. "Kelly and Nathaniel were both brilliant kids with good futures ahead of them. We would never have thought in a million years that they were capable of anything like this."

Police said they have found no evidence that the suicides were connected and do not believe that an Internet site or chat room was involved. Stephenson was friends with two young men who killed themselves last year.

Madeleine Moon, the Bridgend member of parliament, said she is concerned that tributes appearing on social networking sites may have the effect of "romanticizing" suicide.