I just got back from holiday, and in my inbox on another messageboard I visit I had a PM from one of my friends there, which started sounding happy, but at the end he said he felt he was closer to suicide than he had been in a long time. (He's had serious depression since childhood - he's 28 now.) He mentioned family circumstances and "impending doom", and said he wanted to "end it" before those, probably within the next six months.

I know he's "just" an online friend, but is there anything I can do? He lives very far away from me...I feel so helpless.