Banha, Egypt - An Egyptian teenager jumped into the Nile and drowned because his sweetheart turned down his requests for a kiss, police in the conservative Delta town of Banha said Thursday.
High school student Saber Darwish, 17, climbed onto the riverside wall on Wednesday night after the second time his young companion Hanaa refused to seal their romantic evening with a kiss, threatening to throw himself in if she continued to "torture" him, the police officer said.
"I laughed and again I said no, thinking he was joking," Hanaa, also 17, said in her testimony to the police. "But then he suddenly leapt into the water and I cried out, 'don't be crazy.'"
Bystanders rushed to the scene and one of them jumped into the river, trying in vain to save Darwish, the police said.
The young Romeo was buried on Thursday after resuce services managed to fish out his body. - Sapa-AFP