KEY POINTS:
A young Korean tourist who lost her arm in a bus crash last month plans to stay in New Zealand permanently.
Kuy-ri Suk, 19, was one of three people whose right arms were amputated after the bus carrying 15 tourists rolled on State Highway 1 near Tokoroa, on
February 10.
The bus driver subsequently appeared in court charged with careless use of a motor vehicle, and has been remanded on bail until next month.
Miss Suk, the only victim of the crash still at Waikato Hospital, found out yesterday she had won a $4500 scholarship to study English in Hamilton.
In a statement issued today by the hospital, Miss Suk said after she finished the English course she hoped to study at Waikato University.
Her family had decided to establish a new home in Hamilton, in order to support her through the rehabilitation process.
Miss Suk's father, a university professor at Seoul National University of Technology, was set to return to Korea shortly, but her mother and 11-year-old brother were staying in New Zealand.
Miss Suk sacrificed her arm in order to save her brother's life.
"The bus was shaking so much and my brother was going to fall so I protected him with my right arm, and the bus crashed and I got a very terrible injury," she said.
Miss Suk was the most seriously injured victim of the crash.
She is set to be discharged next week into the hospital-run Hilda Ross House.
Surgeon Chris Lewis said she was likely to be fitted with an artificial limb in six months, after skin grafting.
Jung Min Han, 19, also lost an arm and sustained head injuries, while her 13-year-old sister Soo Min received facial scarring and a head injury.
Their father Sinho Han, 48, suffered neck and spinal injuries.
The two girls are expected to travel from Hamilton to Auckland with their father next week, for rehabilitation treatment.
The third amputee was 34-year-old IT programmer Youn Hee Chang, who returned to Korea last week for further treatment.
In an email from Yunsei University hospital in Seoul, Ms Chang had thanked Waikato hospital staff and told them she was already learning to write with her left hand.
Miss Suk also thanked the doctors and nurses at Waikato hospital, and the Korean community in Hamilton, for their support.
- NZPA