School Official Kills Self Over Poisonings

The official in charge of school lunches blamed for a deadly food poisoning outbreak in western Japan has committed suicide, police said. Shigeki Morimoto, 61, who headed the school lunch program for Sakai city, had been troubled for months by the epidemic, which killed two schoolchildren in the city and sickened thousands. Morimoto’s body was found in a 13-foot pond several miles from his home, police said. He was last seen leaving for work Thursday, and his family reported him missing the next day, worried that he would kill himself. Sakai was the worst-hit city in an outbreak of a strain of the E. coli bacteria this summer. The disease killed 11 people across Japan, mostly children and the elderly.