Boy hangs self with backpack strap

MANILA, Philippines - A 15-year-old boy was found dead yesterday morning in Barangay Talipapa, Quezon City, his body suspended by a backpack strap tied to the top bunk of his two-deck bed.

Senior Police Officer 1 Greg Maramag said Kim Yumul, a first-year student at Sauyo High School, was last seen by helper Mylene Abello at past midnight yesterday when he went out of his room to drink water at the kitchen and go to the bathroom.

When Abello went up to the boy’s room at around 6:30 a.m., she was surprised to find the door locked. Yumul reportedly did not lock his room.

After several unanswered knocks, other members of the family took a ladder to peek through the second-floor bedroom’s window. It was then when they saw the boy hanging from his bed.

According to Maramag, the boy’s family does not know why Yumul took his own life.

The boy was described to be quiet, a homebody, and active in his church organization.

His family, however, told the police that before the boy entered high school, he was always out with his friends that it even affected his studies.

When Yumul entered high school, he reportedly became quiet and stayed at home most of the time when not in school but was still busy with church activities. – Reinir Padua