A teenage Russian girl and her lover both hanged themselves from the same rope in a tree after they discovered that she was pregnant.
DailyMail reports that Irina Korovina, 14, and her lover Anatoly Maslov, 22, died and were found hanging from the same rope from the same branch. Their hands were still wrapped around each other, as tactile in death as they were in life.
Police said that with no suicide note they were still investigating the cause of death, but confirmed that the teenager was pregnant and, being under-age, the man would have faced an investigation if he
was the father of the child. Police spokesman Malik Shcherbakov said:
'Looking at her social media postings it seems that at least up to shortly before her death she was happy, and one of the last postings was "Life is beautiful".'
He added that they were looking to see whether the man had put pressure on the girl to commit suicide with him after noting that he had injuries which indicated he had at least attempted to slash his wrists before both of them died from hanging.
There seems to have been some dispute over the parents' request that she have an abortion because of her age,' Shcherbakov said.
The bodies were found hanging from trees in woodland next to Zmeevo village on the outskirts of the western Russian town of Tver after the pair had vanished, sparking a search by locals and police officers. The girl's mother said that they had discovered she was three months' pregnant the same day, and that they had tried to stop her seeing her boyfriend because of the age difference.
He had reportedly worked as a security guard at a local shopping centre.