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Danwon High School students hold papers with messages such as "come back," "miss you," "love you" and "don't lose your hope". Woohae Cho/AP/Press Association Images

Vice principal who was rescued from sinking ferry dies in apparent suicide

The body of Kang Min-Kyu was found near the gym where families of missing students are staying.

A HIGH SCHOOL vice principal rescued from the South Korean ferry that sank with hundreds of his students on board was found dead today, in what local media reports said was an apparent suicide.

Police on Jindo island said the body of vice principal Kang Min-Kyu, 52, was found near the gymnasium where relatives of the 268 people still missing from the ferry disaster have been staying.

“The precise cause of death is still under investigation,” one police official told AFP.

Yonhap news agency cited police as saying he was found hanging from a tree having apparently taken his own life.

Of the 475 people on board the ferry when it capsized this morning, 352 were students from Danwon High School in Ansan city just south of Seoul.

They were taking the ferry for a school excursion to the popular southern resort island of Jeju.

The vice principal was among 179 people who managed to escape the ferry in the few hours before it capsized and sank.

- © AFP, 2014

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More: “I feel ashamed”: Captain wasn’t at the helm of capsized Korean ferry

Read: ‘Mom, I love you’: The heartwrenching text messages sent from South Korea’s sinking ferry>

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