Monday, May 06, 2013

Two foreign English teachers died in Incheon over the weekend

There were two separate incidents this weekend.

Sisa News reports that A 26 year-old American native speaking teacher was killed when he was hit by a bus crossing the street at a crosswalk at Dongmak intersection in Incheon's Yeonsu-gu at 2:30pm on Saturday. The driver was apparently making a left turn towards the industrial complex there and was surprised to see the teacher walking across the crosswalk. The teacher arrived in Korea last May and was working at an elementary school in Paju. Police informed his family via the US Embassy and are investigating the 58 year-old driver and trying to determine the exact series of events which occurred.

Meanwhile, Asia Gyeongje, in an article titled 'Foreign English instructor in his 30s falls to death at a pension while drunk,' tells us that a British English instructor fell about 20 meters to his death from a retaining wall at a pension on Jangbong-do (an island north of Incheon Airport) at 8:45 pm on Saturday. He was part of a group of teachers taking part in a travelling club, and the organizer said he heard moaning outside and found the instructor on the ground at the bottom of the stairs. (NoCut News adds that he had head injuries and was moved to a hospital but died after arriving.) Police say that he was walking down the stairs while drunk and lost his balance and fell over the railing. They're still trying to figure out exactly what happened. The teacher was working at a hagwon in Namyangju, Gyeonggi-do.

6 comments:

323TESOL said...

I was there when English man died.

Pixiesmurf said...

I worked with the English teacher in the UK. He was a lovely young man who was thought very highly of by many people. This is evident by the speed at which funds have been raised to bring him home.
RIP. xx

daeguowl said...

So someone somewhere has rewritten history...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324235/British-teacher-30-dies-plunging-50ft-cliff-climbing-South-Korea.html

K said...

-Popular Gusts has something about a Welsh teacher living in Namyangju who died in Korea as a result of a fall on May 4th. Korean police say he fell over a railing while walking down stairs drunk at a pension on Jangbong-do off Incheon in the Yellow Sea, was discovered moaning on the ground by the owner and moved to hospital where he died. They supply two Korean links:
http://populargusts.blogspot.kr/2013/05/two-foreign-english-teachers-died-in.html
http://view.asiae.co.kr/news/view.htm?idxno=2013050513264553169&nvr=Y
http://www.nocutnews.co.kr/Show.asp?IDX=2484557

-The Daily Mail, however, says he was ‘rock climbing with friends’ on Jangbong-do:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2324235/British-teacher-30-dies-plunging-50ft-cliff-climbing-South-Korea.html

- So does his local paper,. It also says he worked in Pyongnae (which is aparently in Namyangju) and gives a picture of a memorial stone for him written in Korean, English and Welsh:
http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10417444.Pals_raise___5k_in_two_days_for_Gwent_teacher_s_funeral/

-The Sun adds nothing to this, but they also link to this page his friends set up for donations for his cremation and transport home. It, however, gives no further information on the incident:
http://www.gofundme.com/2vigbc

-This site also says it happened on Jangbong-do and that he lived in Seoul, but that he ‘fell 50ft from a coastal path on the island of Jangbong off the west coast on 4 May.’ A coastal path, not a mountain path. They add: ‘devastated family and friends managed to raise £5,000 in two days to pay for his cremation service in South Korea and the cost of having his ashes sent back home.’

http://travel.aol.co.uk/2013/05/14/british-teacher-dies-rock-climbing-50ft-cliff-fall-south-korea/

-Oddly, the BBC say this all happened on Jeju-do:

‘climbing with friends on the volcanic island of Jeju…he fell off of the mountain path.’

They even have a map of the location of Jeju-do in relation to the rest of Korea. They say he worked at a school ‘in the capital’ but maybe they think Namyangju is the capital.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-22524587

-This site backs up the BBC account of it hapening on Jeju-do:

‘Kevin Andresen, 30, was climbing on the South Korean island of Jeju when he plummeted 50 feet to his death.’
http://www.rttnews.com/2117415/welsh-climber-killed-in-south-korea.aspx?type=gn&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=sitemap

- Here too:
‘Kevin had travelled 280 miles to the volcanic island of Jeju – a world heritage site with a stunning mountains and coast line. But he was killed when he fell off of a mountain path while out rock climbing with friends on May 4.”
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/teacher-killed-climbing-accident-south-3811154

-This site gives up and says he ‘died after falling more than 50ft from a cliff while climbing on an island.’ Ha.
http://www.itv.com/news/wales/2013-05-14/welsh-teacher-dies-while-climbing-in-south-korea/

-The most recent article in his local paper gives a hybrid version of the coastal/mountain path thing but sticks to Jangbong-do as the island and says:

‘ Mr Andresen, 30, of Blaina, died on May 4 after falling from a coastal path on Jangbong island, off the west coast of South Korea, near Inchon.’ ‘http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/10426535.More_tributes_paid_to_tragic_Blaina_teacher/

-So it’s a sad story and rest in peace. Most articles add that he was in the Seoul Hiking Club and in something called ‘Intrepid Foreign eXcursions – a travel group offering “controlled chaos for the seriously intrepid” as well. But where did it actually happen and how? Which island? Was he drunk at his accommodations and fell 20 metres like the Korean papers say? Or was he climbing with friends? On a mountain or near the coast? Did he live in Seoul or in Namyangju? I can’t find anything on eslcafe.com about it, so what in the name of Tangun actually happened to this guy?

323TESOL said...

Kevin was not hiking when he fell. I didn't see the incident, but I heard the tour guide mentioned that nobody knows exactly how and why he fell. This happened in a pension in Jangbong-do. I met the guy for a couple of minutes. We were celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Everyone was drinking. Who knows how much he drank. I hope he is resting in peace.

323TESOL said...

He didn't die like they say back in Wales. I didn't see the incident, but I was there in the location when he had the accident. We were not in Jeju Island and he was not climbing nor hiking when it occurred