The leaders of the Attawapiskat First Nation, an isolated Cree community in northern Ontario, Canada, have declared a state of emergency over a series of suicide attempts.
The CBC reports that about 2,000 people live in the community. On Saturday night, according to Chief Bruce Shisheesh, 11 people attempted suicide.
That comes after 28 suicide attempts in March, the Canadian news service reports:
"Including Saturday's spate of suicide attempts, a total of 101 people of all ages have tried to kill themselves since September, Shisheesh said, with one person dying. The youngest was 11, the oldest 71."
On Saturday night, Shisheesh and the Attawapiskat Council voted unanimously to declare a state of emergency. It's prompted health officials from the state and provincial governments to declare they will be sending assistance to Attawapiskat, where there are no mental health specialists and only four health care workers, the CBC writes.
Canada's prime minister, Justin Trudeau, called the spate of suicide attempts "heartbreaking" on Twitter, and said the government would work to improve living conditions for indigenous people.
[For more of this story, written by Camila Domonoske, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/th...ver-suicide-attempts]
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