Teens save man hanging from tree

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A group of teenagers from Poleglass who saved a man as he attempted to take his own life have said it was an experience which will haunt them forever.

The seven youths, aged between 14 and 17, helped search for the man after his sister approached them in Woodside Forest Park and asked them for help.

The woman had earlier found a suicide note from her brother in the kitchen.

The five girls and two boys split up to look for the man and eventually found him hanging from a tree.

Speaking to the Irish News, one of the boys described how he climbed the tree to untie him.

"I tried to hold him up so he wouldn't choke," the 17-year-old said.

"I was shaking the branch trying to get him down. I had to climb the tree a bit. All the time I was holding up his legs.

"His sister was just screaming and trying to hold him up."

The image just keeps coming back to me

After getting him down from the tree the teenagers called the emergency services.

The youth, who did not want to be named, said he and his friends would never forget what they experienced on Monday night.

"That is something which I would never want to see again," he said.

"The image just keeps coming back to me."

Three of the teenagers were later treated in hospital for shock.

The children are all members of the Sally Garden Community Centre in Poleglass.

Centre manager Sean Devine said he had also arranged for a counsellor to speak to the children and their families.

"There is no doubt that the action of these children saved this man's life," he said.

"Words cannot express the bravery they showed and the trauma they were face with.

"They are doing exams at the minute and were very upset by what they went through," he said.