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| /Screen captured from Yantai Huasheng International School homepage |
By Lee Han-soo
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| Pictures of the dead students posted on the school's website. / Screen capture from YHIS homepage |
The students, surnamed Cho and Choi, drowned while swimming in the Moei River in Thailand during the school trip on Mar. 24.
The school has avoided investigating the incident and refused to pay compensation to the bereaved families.
About five people a year drown in the river but the school did not properly educate the students, according to the families.
"The school did not even prepare a life jacket," Cho's father told the Donga Ilbo, a Korean news outlet. "They also did not apply for any form of insurance."
Meanwhile, the school has done little to investigate the accident or resolve it.
"We received a letter of resignation from three teachers who are responsible for the accident," a school official said. "The school will not investigate the accident and give no compensation."
The families claim the school is trying to block any further investigation.
"The American teachers who were at the scene are now free to return to their home country, making it impossible to reveal the truth," Cho's father said.
The families have asked the Korean Embassy in China to find out the truth.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official said Thai police had investigated the drownings and the ministry was helping the bereaved.
The official said the families were preparing to sue the school on civil and criminal charges and the ministry would ask for China's education ministry and police to conduct a fair investigation if criminal charges proceed.
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