S. Korea o cial in bus crash probe found dead

BEIJING: An official dispatched from Seoul to deal with the aftermath of a bus crash in China that killed 10 South Koreans has been found dead after falling from a hotel.

The official, identified as Choi Doo-Yeong, was confirmed dead after police were notified that a man had fallen from a four-storey hotel early yesterday in the northeastern Chinese city of Jian, the city’s propaganda department said on its social media account.

The reason for the fall was under investigation, it added.

Choi was president of the staterun Local Government Officials’ Development Institute and had gone to China after a bus carrying more than 24 South Korean civil servants went off a bridge in Jian on Wednesday.

The crash killed 10 South Koreans and their Chinese driver, China’s Xinhua news agency and South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

Xinhua said Choi had accompanied Chung Chae-Gun, vice minister at South Korea’s Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, to deal with the aftermath of the incident.

The crash victims had been travelling on a training programme organised by the institute

“It has not been confirmed whether Choi jumped from the hotel to his death or lost his footing and fell,” said an official at the South Korean ministry, according to Yonhap.

Another government official quoted by Yonhap said Choi “was known to have felt a heavy responsibility for the tragic accident as the head of the institute”. — AFP