Google engineer commits suicide, jumps to his death from office building in NYC

Google employee jumps to his death from its NYC office building

Tragedy struck the Manhattan headquarters of Google when a senior software engineer jumped to his death from the 14th floor of the search giant's headquarters in Chelsea late on Thursday. The man's identity has not been revealed by the authorities, as they are yet to inform his family about the incident.

In this file photo, a woman walks past Google offices in New York. (AP File photo)

According to police sources to New York Post, multiple 911 calls were made after an unconscious person was found lying on the ground near a building on West 15th Street, opposite the 15-story Art Deco building. The police rushed to the spot and found the man unconscious. He was immediately taken to Bellevue Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Reports suggest, investigators found handprints on the ledge of a 14th-floor open-air terrace, leading them to believe that the man had jumped from there. However, they have not found any suicide note or video of the incident.

This incident comes just a few months after another Google employee, Jacob Pratt, was found dead in an apparent suicide. Pratt, who was 33 years old, was also a software engineer working at the Manhattan headquarters. He was found hanging in an apartment on West 26th Street and 6th Avenue in Chelsea on February 16th.

Google has not issued any statement regarding the incident as of now. However, the incident has once again brought to light the issue of mental health in the tech industry and the need to address it.

Discussing suicides can be triggering for some. However, suicides are preventable. A few major suicide prevention helpline numbers in India are 011-23389090 from Sumaitri (Delhi-based) and 044-24640050 from Sneha Foundation (Chennai-based).