September 17, 2009
If you think things are bad for workers here in the UK, it's never quite as bad as in China.
Officials in south-east China have ordered workers to cover a steel bridge in butter to prevent people from using it to attempt suicide.
The bridge in Guangzhou have been covered in greasy fat in efforts to put an end to the spate of people threatening to jump from it, The Sun reports. In one month alone, eight people committed suicide on the bridge and numerous others climbed up threatening to jump.
Government spokesman Shiu Liang said: "We tried employing guards at both ends but that didn't work - and we put up special fences and notices asking people not to commit suicide here.
"None of it worked - and so now we have put butter over the bridge and it has worked very well. Nobody can get up there and nobody who tries ever falls."
A highly non-sympathetic bridge guard added: "The butter makes the bars and frames slippery and hard to climb on to, and we can easily catch them.
"Each time somebody threatens to commit suicide to get media attention or sympathy over personal problems we end up with several hours of tailbacks and there were lots of complaints."
Officials in south-east China have ordered workers to cover a steel bridge in butter to prevent people from using it to attempt suicide.
The bridge in Guangzhou have been covered in greasy fat in efforts to put an end to the spate of people threatening to jump from it, The Sun reports. In one month alone, eight people committed suicide on the bridge and numerous others climbed up threatening to jump.
Government spokesman Shiu Liang said: "We tried employing guards at both ends but that didn't work - and we put up special fences and notices asking people not to commit suicide here.
"None of it worked - and so now we have put butter over the bridge and it has worked very well. Nobody can get up there and nobody who tries ever falls."
A highly non-sympathetic bridge guard added: "The butter makes the bars and frames slippery and hard to climb on to, and we can easily catch them.
"Each time somebody threatens to commit suicide to get media attention or sympathy over personal problems we end up with several hours of tailbacks and there were lots of complaints."
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