The daughter of a South Korean ferry's crew member committed suicide on Thursday in the southern city of Busan, police and prosecutors said, in a tragic twist to a disaster which killed hundreds of school children and prompted a nationwide outpouring of grief.
The crew member, currently on trial and facing a charge for negligence in the April 16 sinking, was granted temporary release from detention in order to help arrange his daughter's funeral, a prosecution official said.
The daughter, whose details were not released, had been preparing for a government exam since years, said a police officer in the southern city of Busan, where she was found dead. "To become a public servant was my last hope, but I don't think that is my way. Thank you for supporting me and I am sorry," she said in a note left for her husband, the police officer said.
The circumstances and details of the suicide remain unclear, but the incident is under investigation.
Charges ranging from negligence to homicide have placed 15 surviving crew members of the ferry on trial after being taken into custody for failing to take responsibility during the sinking of the huge ferry, Reuters reported. After video footage emerged of ferry members and the captain escaping the sinking vessel after instructing the children to stay on board, public furor has landed most of the crew in court.
"The Sewol, overloaded and traveling too fast on a turn, sank off the southwest coast on April 16 on a routine journey from Incheon on the mainland to the southern holiday island of Jeju," Reuters reported. "Of the 476 passengers and crew on board, 339 were children and teachers from the same school on the outskirts of Seoul. Only 172 people were rescued and the remainder are presumed to have drowned."
