SEOUL– Two campaign workers for minor opposition presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo were found dead in a campaign bus Tuesday, apparently from gas poisoning, party officials and police said.
Ahn, the flag bearer of the centrist People’s Party, suspended campaign activities following the accident, which occurred on the day when the 22-day official campaign for the March 9 presidential election kicked off.
The 63-year-old and 50-year-old workers were unconscious when a party member found them in a bus parked on the road in the central city of Cheonan, about 90 kilometers south of Seoul, at 5:24 p.m.
The victims — a campaign chief for a nearby county and the bus driver — were said to be in cardiac arrest when they were found and later pronounced dead at hospitals.
There were no signs of foul play, according to police.
Police were looking into possible causes for their deaths, including carbon monoxide poisoning. They will also ask the National Forensic Service to conduct autopsies.
The party had “suspended all election campaign activities to deal with the situation,” Choi Jin-seok, chairman of the party’s election committee, said in an emergency briefing Tuesday night.
Fourteen candidates began their formal campaigns for the presidential election Tuesday.
Source: Yonhap News Agency