A TEACHER who was rescued while pupils drowned in the Korean ferry disaster has killed himself.
SUICIDE: Kang Min-gyu (inset) [EPA/IG]
State prosecutor Park Jae-Eok said: “We’ve been investigating the captain as he was suspected to leave the steering room for an unknown reason.”
The ferry, named Sewol, was travelling from Incheon, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.
It capsized and sank within just two hours.
Some 338 of those on board were students and teachers from the Seoul school, who were on an outing when disaster struck.
Investigators are focusing on a sharp turn the vessel took before it started toppling.
They are also looking if an evacuation order could have saved lives, with survivors claiming they were told to stay put rather than get off the ship.
SUICIDE: Kang Min-gyu (inset) [EPA/IG]
Kang Min-gyu, 52, was hanged from a tree on the island of Jindo, South Korea.
It is near to where relatives of those missing from the wreck have been staying.
He is said to have dropped to his knees and apologised to Danwon High School students’ families before taking his own life.
Kang had been missing since Thursday and his body was found yesterday.
So far 28 people are known to have died during Wednesday’s catastrophe, with 179 rescued.
Efforts to find the 268 still missing have been hampered by poor visibility and strong currents.
Police have issued an arrest warrant for shamed ferry captain Lee Joon-seok, 69, who abandoned his ship while it capsized.
It has now emerged it may have been a junior officer who was at the helm when it sank.“We’ve been investigating the captain as he was suspected to leave the steering room for an unknown reason”State prosecutor Park Jae-Eok
State prosecutor Park Jae-Eok said: “We’ve been investigating the captain as he was suspected to leave the steering room for an unknown reason.”
The ferry, named Sewol, was travelling from Incheon, in the north-west, to the southern resort island of Jeju.
It capsized and sank within just two hours.
Some 338 of those on board were students and teachers from the Seoul school, who were on an outing when disaster struck.
Investigators are focusing on a sharp turn the vessel took before it started toppling.
They are also looking if an evacuation order could have saved lives, with survivors claiming they were told to stay put rather than get off the ship.
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