The head of a South Korean institute that organized a tour of China by local officials that ended in a deadly bus crash fell to his death from a hotel early yesterday in northeastern China, state media reported.
Choi Doo-yeong had traveled to China to deal with the aftermath of the incident, which occurred on Wednesday last week, in which a bus plunged from a highway bridge with 28 people aboard, killing the Chinese driver and 10 South Koreans who had been studying at South Korea’s state-run Local Government Officials Development Institute.
Xinhua news agency cited local authorities in the Jilin Province city of Jian as confirming that Choi, the head of the Suwon-based institute, had fallen to his death.
Police received the report of his fall at 3:13am, Xinhua said.
The South Korean Yonhap news agency cited South Korean officials as saying that Choi had felt a heavy sense of responsibility for the accident and that it was unclear whether the fall was an accident or a suicide.
The 10 South Koreans were part of a 140-person delegation on a tour of historic sites in China, including places where Korean independence fighters helped resist Japanese colonial rule before the end of World War II.
Also yesterday, Jian officials announced that they had determined that speeding was to blame for the bus crash.
The city government said that the bus was on a mountain road with a speed limit of 40kph, but that the 39-year-old driver was driving at speeds up to twice as fast.
The city said tests ruled out the possibility that he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
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