▲ Map of Syria and Morocco Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons

A 20-year-old Syrian refugee living in Korea allegedly attempted suicide after being told he couldn’t marry his Moroccan girlfriend due to her not having the legal status required to stay in Korea.

According to the Busan Sasang Police Station, a Syrian man called the police station and said "I want to die now, I am going to kill myself," on Aug. 31 at 11:16 p.m.

When police reached the man, they found him standing on the edge of a seven-meter high pier.

The police asked the emergency services to install an air mattress under the pier. They then slowly reached the man and began to try to persuade him to come down.

However, at 11:40 p.m, the man tried to jump off the bridge on the pier. He was stopped as the police were able to grab his arm before he fell.

Police officers then held the man for three to five minutes until the emergency services completed installing the air mattress.

The officers said, "We were holding both his hands but could not bring him up because we were exhausted.”

He eventually fell onto the inflated air mattress and was brought to safety.

Police said the Syrian refugee entered Korea last May.

He was working as a laborer in Korea when he met the woman from Morocco. He contacted the immigration office to marry the woman but was told he was unable to marry her due to her status.

An officer said, "a Syrian man said that his girlfriend has been staying illegally in Korea since she passed the permitted period of stay. According to Moroccan custom, men and women must marry or they can not live together."