An official in the worst stricken Mianyang City in the May 12 Sichuan quake committed suicide on Wednesday after having suffered serious depression.

He Zonghua, 40, director of the human resources and training department of the general office of Mianyang government, jumped off a 15-floor hotel room in the city's downtown on Wednesday.

A staff of the hotel found a person fallen on the third-floor platform at about 11:20 a.m. and then called police.

According to police investigation, He suffered serious depression before he died. His colleagues said he complained insomnia and bad health in recent days. He also appeared anxious and worried at work.

He graduated from Sichuan University in 1990 and started working at the city's government in 2006. None of his families or relatives died in the devastating quake.

In October, an official of the Beichuan County, in Mianyang, also killed himself out of pressure and depression.

Dong Yufei, at age 40, the county agriculture commission head and disaster relief office director, hanged himself in a temporary office on Oct. 3.

Dong, who lost his 12-year-old son and other relatives in the quake, left a letter that read: "I feel too much pressure from life and work everyday. I cannot hold on any further. And I just want a good rest."

The deaths and suicides of some quake zone officials were attributed to anxiety and overwork, said psychologist Zhang Wei, deputy director of the West China Medical School of Sichuan University.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2008)