Staff Member Dies in Fall From U.N. Building
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
UNITED NATIONS — The body of a United Nations staffer was found yesterday morning in the headquarter compound after apparently committing suicide by jumping from the 19th floor.
The New York City Police Department was called yesterday morning by U.N. authorities after the body of the unidentified woman in her 40s was found on the lawn between the secretariat building and the East River.
A police spokeswoman said the cause was suicide. A U.N. spokeswoman, Marie Okabe, declined to identify the woman or the department she worked for until the family could be notified. She added that the woman was based at the secretariat building and was on duty yesterday morning.
Although there was heavy diplomatic activity at the building yesterday afternoon — with the Security Council meeting for a session on Kosovo, which declared independence earlier in the day — the building was almost deserted on a Sunday, when most staffers on duty are in the services departments.
In 2003, a U.N. guard, later identified as Michael Holton, was found dead in a secluded lounge, after using his own gun to shoot himself in the mouth. The cause was later described as personal distress. In 1982, an official who had just resigned from his office and suffered ailments, jumped from the 18th floor of the secretariat in a suicide.
