The body of a South Korean school-teacher who went missing 15 years ago has been located – by a scuba diver who claims to have been guided by a voice in his head.
Baek Min-gyu, 55, had previously led the water-rescue team for the eastern city of Andong, and had been involved in the original search for the unnamed school vice-principal when he went missing at the age of 53 in August 2010.
Also read: 3 divers ‘pass out simultaneously’ in Korea
Earlier this month Baek had been carrying out maintenance work at the Andong Dam when he accidentally dropped a ladder into the water, according to a report in the Korea Herald.
Using scuba gear he had dived to a depth of 30m to find the ladder but, while carrying it to the surface, had dropped it again at the same spot. It was when he dived once more that he also came across the teacher’s remains.
“I kept hearing: ‘Please, take me with you’,” he told local media. “I don’t even know why I went back so deep into the water for that cheap ladder – I just felt I had to.”
Gyeongbuk Provincial Police Agency said that being largely encased in mud had helped to preserve the body, much of which remained intact, and identification had been confirmed by DNA testing.
The case had been one of the region’s longest-running missing-person cases, and the police plan to honour Baek with a certificate of appreciation for finally helping them to solve it.
Death in Indonesia
Meanwhile in Aceh on the Indonesian island of Sumatra a 33-year-old scuba diver visiting from Malaysia died yesterday (31 May) after being caught in what was described as a strong current.
The man had been some 20 minutes into a morning dive to a 30m maximum depth at a site off Iboih. He was in a group with two other Malaysians and an instructor, according to media outlet Berita Rakyat Aceh.
On encountering the current the instructor had signalled to the man to ascend, but he might have complied too rapidly, because by the time he reached the surface he was found to have lost consciousness.
The instructor and fellow-divers took turns to administer CPR while the man was taken ashore by boat and on by car to a nearby clinic, but he was pronounced dead on arrival there, some 40 minutes after the incident. A post mortem examination was to be carried out, as Indonesian police investigate the incident.
Also on Divernet: CCR SCOOTER DIVERS WERE SUCKED INTO DAM INLET, DIVER SUCKED INTO DAM-PIPE: OPERATOR SETTLES, FORENSICS ARE DIFFERENT WHEN SOMEONE DIES IN A BODY OF WATER…
