***TRIGGER WARNING-SUICIDE***

Unseen Tragedy: The Untold Story of a Public Suicide

The Story of the Man who Committed Suicide in Front of Everyone and Nobody saw it.

If I gave you 50 claps, it means I read your story in its entirety and liked it.

Five in the morning, I get dressed, do my morning hygiene, eat breakfast and get into the car that I loaded the day before.

I go on my way to Sagres, more precisely Cape St. Vincent, one of the favourite places for sports fishermen.

Upon arriving at the fishing grounds, it was a sunny and windless day, a rare thing in this region of the Algarve. Other fishermen were already in place and some even had some fish.

Anxiety and expectations grew. In a hurry, I chose an empty spot and finally started fishing. Just about 15 minutes after I started fishing, I heard a strange sound coming from the bottom of the cliff.

“Ho, My God, …” I looked to my left side from where that sigh was coming from and saw a man of about 40 years old, tall, blond, in shorts and a t-shirt who looked like a foreigner. A tourist, maybe.

The man was about 10 meters from me and was watching the sea from the top of the cliff where we were, about 50 meters high.

I hadn’t even noticed his presence with the enthusiasm of the fish I was catching. Fishing couldn’t be going any better. Suddenly I heard “Splash”, and then “Wo”. What was that? I looked to my left and didn’t see the man. But where did he go? I noticed a lot of excitement among the fishermen who flocked to the place.

Then I realized the other fishermen were already on the spot, looking down.

I approached, and the body was down there on top of a rock. The tide was empty, and it was clear that he still stirred a little. There were some sounds of suffering for a while, and then there was silence. Just the sea hitting the rocks. It was a horrible thing to see. Everyone was petrified and unresponsive. Some couldn’t even look. And the worst thing was hearing the moans of the man who was still alive and was about to die. With everyone watching without being able to do anything to help him.

The authorities did not take long to arrive. We had to answer some questions, but we had seen little or nothing.

When the maritime police and paramedics arrived, which took around 30 minutes, the man no longer showed any signs of life. The police tried to find a way down the cliff but without success. They called a rescue boat to try to reach the man. But once again, it was impossible to get close to him. As the tide was too low, it was not possible to access the body. The maritime police had to wait for the tide to rise and the body to be carried through the water as far as the rescue boat could reach it.

The police then called everyone present to collect statements.

They wanted to know what we had seen and if we knew anything. They also asked if anyone knew the man and if he was alone at the time of the accident. But nobody knew anything. We were just sport fishermen who had come here to have a good time. Which obviously didn’t happen.

As soon as I got confirmation from the authorities that they didn’t need me any more on the spot, I packed up and went home. I had only fished for 15 minutes.

But how could I continue to enjoy myself after that?