Two people were found dead and one unconscious on a bus belonging to the campaign of minor opposition People‘s Party presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo on Tuesday.

The bodies of the head of the election committee for Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, and an election campaign vehicle driver were found in the vehicle parked on a road in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province at about 5:24 p.m.

The two are suspected to have died of carbon monoxide poisoning while inside the stand-by vehicle during election campaigning. The 45-person election bus was renovated to include a generator.

Another campaign vehicle driver was also found unconscious in Gangwon Province. The driver was transferred to an emergency room in Wonju, Gangwon Province.

“There is an LED electronic signboard outside of the election campaign bus to show promotional videos. We were told to open windows while using the sign board because the generator can cause carbon monoxide poisoning. But it seems like the two vehicles did not open the windows, perhaps because of the cold weather,” Choi Jin-seok, chief of the election campaign committee, said during an emergency press briefing Tuesday.

“Ahn has stopped his election campaign and is on his way to the hospital in Cheonan to pay his respect to the victims. The election committee will stop all activities and do its best to respond to the accidents,” Choi said.

The Democratic Party of Korea, the Justice Party, and the People Power Party offered their condolences to Ahn and the families of the victims.

By Im Eun-byel (silverstar@heraldcorp.com)