Nine young people die in suicide pacts

POLICE found the bodies of seven young people in a van outside Tokyo yesterday in what was believed to be Japan’s biggest-ever group suicide.

They also discovered the bodies of two women in an apparent suicide pact in a car at a temple.

The cases - involving young people in their teens and 20s - raised alarm over suicide agreements, many of which are made by people who meet over the internet. They have claimed dozens of lives and shocked Japan over the past several years.