RI maid commits suicide in Kuwait

RI maid commits suicide in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY (AFP): An Indonesian maid working in Kuwait has committed suicide by slicing her stomach open, like the Japanese ritual hara-kiri, newspapers reported Wednesday.

The 30-year-old maid carved an incision with a knife that was 18 stitches long and bled to death at her employer's home in Jahra, 30 kilometers west of Kuwait City, said Al-Rai Al-Aam.

Although her death was initially thought to be suspect, a coroner's report confirmed the maid had taken her own life, the newspaper said, without naming the Indonesian.

Hundreds of thousands of Asian women work in oil-rich Kuwait, mainly as domestic servants, earning a monthly wage of up to 50 dinars (US$165).

Several dozen Asian workers commit suicide in the Gulf states each year, many of them to escape unscrupulous employers or to avoid the shame of returning home empty-handed.

In Kuwait, where suicide is considered a crime, the rate has tripled to around 40 a year since the 1991 Gulf War that ended seven months of Iraqi occupation. Most cases are foreigners.