Thousands pay respects to Warmbier

FRIENDS and family have said goodbye to an American student who died six days after being returned to the United States in a coma following 17 months in captivity in North Korea.

Thousands turned out to pay their respects in Otto Warmbier’s home town of Wyoming, Ohio, which has a population of only 8000.

Senator Rob Portman said Mr Warmbier (pictured) was “an amazing young man” who should not have been detained and North Korea must be held accountable.

A coroner is trying to determine the cause of Mr Warmbier’s death, but the family have declined an autopsy.

The 22-year-old University of Virginia student had been in a coma since shortly after he was sentenced to prison in March 2016. He’d been accused of trying to steal a propaganda banner.