I'm a Catholic. I believe that suicide is wrong.
I don't think any of those people committed suicide. It's not suicide when you jump to escape from a burning building that will kill you, as far as I'm concerned.
May they rest in peace with God.
I've never viewed it as suicide either. I think that in an inferno like this that there would come a point when your brain would shut off and your body will do *anything* to escape the crushing heat and smoke.
People who jumped may not have even made a conscious decision to do so. Their bodies did this for them.
"I don't think any of those people committed suicide. It's not suicide when you jump to escape from a burning building that will kill you, as far as I'm concerned."
You are right.
It wasn't suicide it was murder.
We don't know (and will never know) that it was suicide. These poor people could have been holding on to the last possible structural component of their floor on the building -- and it could have been steadily growing hotter and hotter, until it was impossible to hold on to; or they could have escaped to the last possible ledge, and an advancing fire could have surged forward. Either of these could have forced a person to let go -- not that they chose to jump.
This was not suicide in any sense of the word, it was merely choosing to die by falling instead of burning. And it may well have been involuntary - like flinching back from a hot stove, the drive to escape heat is overwhelming. (I used to be an arson investigator, and people will do ANYthing to escape burning, if not rendered unconscious by the smoke.)
Not suicide. I'm surprised that the priest of the family in the story didn't inform them of this and give them comfort.
i agree that the actions were not suicide, and i think the only reason that this enrages some is in that situation would they wait to die when the fire and smoke hits them or choose there own destiny, i have asked myself many times, i would have done the same,may everyone from that tragic day rest in the peace they deserve, and the many people linked to them remember the good in each and every one of them.iam from the uk and shock still hits me when i think back to such a tragic day, god bless them all.