A Swedish suicide hotline is investigating reports that an on-duty pastor fell asleep while on the phone to a severely depressed man.
The 44-year-old man called emergency services at around 2am on Friday feeling "psychologically unstable" and was forwarded to the suicide hotline, the Barometern newspaper reported.
The man began talking to a Church of Sweden pastor who was on duty at the time, but soon got the feeling he was talking to himself.
"I thought maybe he was taking notes, so I asked: 'Are you taking notes?'" he said.
"I could hear his heavy breathing."
After five minutes trying to wake up the pastor, the man hung up the phone.
"It's not acceptable for a priest to fall asleep in the middle of a call — this should not happen when you call up in search of help," he said.
"I felt bad and wanted to kill myself, but I pulled myself together and made the call."
The suicide line co-ordinator said the incident was an uncommon occurrence and pastors who fell asleep on the job would be relieved from the duty.
News home