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Source: Sunday -
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The head of the language school where almost 80 people died in the Christchurch earthquake has apologised to families of the victims.
The Director of Kings Education, John Ryder, said he was sorry more was not done to get in contact with victims' families.
He spoke of the difficulty of dealing with the situation during today's coroner's inquest.
"(There was) just an overwhelming sadness to the whole exercise," he said.
"And for ourselves did we do enough? I'm sure we didn't. It was just a very very hard exercise."
He agreed they fell short in contacting the families of the dead but said losing their database in the smouldering CTV building made it hard.
"We can only apologise for that, but that is what happened," he said.
Sixty-four foreign students from China, Japan, Korea, the Phillipines, Taiwan and Thailand died when the CTV building collapsed.
They were part of the language school on the building's third floor and most were killed from massive crush injuries and burns.
Some, like Xu Lin Lin, survived the building's initial collapse but died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning afterwards.
While for others, like Japanese student Hyuga Rika, the cause of death remains unknown.
Today's inquest, attended by embassy officials from Japan and the Phillipines, brings an end to the 115 inquests for victims in the CTV building.
Coroner Gordon Matenga said a number of questions still need to be answered around some of the victims' deaths, and families may prefer to wait until after the Royal Commission of Inquiry to rule on the cause of death.
He said one of the issues is the contribution the rescue effort may have made to the deaths of one or two people.
Further investigation needs to be done in that regard, but will take some time, he said.
The families of the 181 victims will receive a letter in the next few weeks asking if they want to remain a part of the Inquiry.
