Kishi Ryoichi, 51, a Japanese engineer working in Turkey, committed suicide yesterday in the northwestern Turkish city of Yalova. A suicide note, linking his death to botched construction work at a bridge he was working on, was found in his room.

The engineer's body was discovered at the entrance to a cemetery in Yalova's Altınova district by passersby. Police found out he had slit his wrists and throat and left a note at the scene. The engineers' colleagues discovered a suicide note in his room at a guest house for bridge engineers in Altınova. Ryoichi said in the note he took the sole responsibility for the rupture of a rope in the bridge under construction and no other people were at fault. An investigation was launched into the incident. It was reported that the engineer was depressed after the incident and left the guest house on Sunday night.

He was working on the construction of a suspension bridge that straddles the Marmara Sea and connects İzmit province to the city of Yalova. The 3-kilometer bridge will significantly cut travel times between Istanbul located west of İzmit and western Turkey, but suffered a setback on Saturday when a rope installed for the construction of the bridge's catwalk ruptured. The Gulf of İzmit was closed to maritime traffic until yesterday due to the incident.