Mihara's Suicide

The Japanese authorities constructed a fence around a volcano at Mount Mihara to stop a trend of over 2000 people committing suicide by jumping in, in a form of suicide

Volcano suicide involves jumping into molten lava in an active volcanic crater, fissure vent, lava flow or lava lake. The actual cause of death may be as a result of the fall (see jumping from height), contact burns, radiant heat or asphyxiation from volcanic gases. According to some ancient sources, philosopher Empedocles jumped into the Aetna trying to make everybody believe that he had disappeared from the Earth to become a god; this was frustrated when the volcano spat out one of his bronze sandals. Modern suicides have taken place in numerous volcanoes but the most famous is Mount Mihara in Japan. In 1933, Kiyoko Matsumoto committed suicide by jumping into the Mihara crater. A trend of copycat suicides followed, as 944 people jumped into the same crater over the following year. Over 1200 people attempted suicide in two years before a barrier was erected. The original barrier was replaced with a higher fence topped with barbed wire after another 619 people jumped in 1936.

Mount Mihara is an active volcano on the Japanese isle of Izu Ōshima. Although the volcano is predominantly basaltic, major eruptions have occurred at intervals of 100–150 years.
Mount Mihara's major eruption in 1986 saw lava fountains up to 1.6 kilometres (1.0 mi) high. The eruption had a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 3, and involved a central vent eruption, radial fissure eruption, explosive eruption, lava flows, and a lava lake eruption. There was also a 16 km high subplinian plume. All of the island's 12,000 inhabitants were evacuated by dozens of vessels consisting of both the military and civilian volunteers.
The most recent eruption was in 1990.