Identifying a probable suicide cluster in an acute care psychiatric hospital in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.

When the two events are analysed together it would seem as if clustering did occur. The suicide victims knew each other and victim number 2 was aware of the facts of the first suicide. They were in their early 20's, were mentally ill and committed suicide in the same site, using the same method and were both institutionalised at the time. Members of the mental healthcare team should be made aware of the characteristics of clustering so that when a suicide attempt occurs in a place where mentally-ill individuals are cared for, measures can be put in place to prevent another patient from copying such an event.