The cause of death of South Korea’s sunken ferry owner could not be determined as the body was badly decomposed, the state forensic agency said today.
“It was impossible to identify the death cause of Yoo Byung-eon as his body was badly decomposed,” Seo Joong-seok, director of the National Forensic Service, said at a nationally televised press briefing.
The body, which was found on June 12 in the country’s southern city of Suncheon, matched that of Yoo, but the death cause was not identified, the director said.
Police said Tuesday that a body was discovered 40 days ago in a plum field in Suncheon, around 415 km south of Seoul, noting it has been confirmed as that of Yoo through DNA testing and fingerprinting.
The forensic agency said little tissues and muscles would remain when 10 days pass by after the death, stressing there was no switch of the body between the first and second autopsy.
According to the toxicology test and autopsy conducted by the agency, no drugs and toxics were found on Yoo’s body, which was also tested negative for alcohol inclusion.
No signs were detected for being beaten or stabbed to death. Whether he had been strangled to death cannot be determined, the agency said. Yoo, 73, owned Chonghaejin Marine, the operator of ferry Sewol which capsized and sank off the southwestern coast on April 16.
The deadliest maritime disaster left more than 300 people, mostly high school students, dead or missing.
Yoo and his family have been suspected of committing a host of illegal acts such as embezzlement, dereliction of duty and tax evasion, which led to lack of funds in the ferry operator and caused lax safety practices such as the inveterate overloading. (PL)