Prank call Radio Station to Donate Funds to Nurse's Family

Afrik Update
         
              DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian have been taken off air since Jacintha Saldanha's death .

                                               DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian 

The Australian radio station which made a prank call to a UK hospital that apparently resulted in the death of a nurse said Tuesday that it would donate at least 500,000 Australian dollars (US$524,000) to a fund for the nurse's family.

Jacintha Saldanha apparently committed suicide after being duped by the prank call from two DJs seeking information on Prince William's pregnant wife, Catherine.

The Sydney-based 2DayFM radio station has come under heavy fire over the hoax call.

The media group which owns 2DayFM said it would resume advertising on the station -- halted in the wake of the tragedy -- beginning Thursday, with all profits until the end of the year going to a fund that would directly benefit Saldanha's family and a minimum contribution of 500,000 Australian dollars.

"We are very sorry for what has happened," said Rhys Holleran, chief executive of Southern Cross Austereo.

"We hope that by contributing to a memorial fund we can help to provide the Saldanha family with the support they need at this very difficult time."

Saldanha put through a call from the DJs to a nurse on the ward at King Edward VII's Hospital, where the Duchess of Cambridge was being treated for acute morning sickness early last Tuesday.

The 46-year-old nurse was found dead three days later in living quarters in central London provided by her workplace.

An autopsy will be carried out Tuesday in Westminster, London's Metropolitan Police said.

The two DJs, who impersonated Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles in the hoax call, made tearful apologies on Monday for what had happened.

Mel Greig and Michael Christian, both crying at times, told two Australian television shows that their thoughts were with Saldanha's family.

"I'm very sorry and saddened for the family, and I can't imagine what they've been going through," Greig said on the program "Today Tonight."

Christian described himself as "gutted, shattered and heartbroken."

"For the part we played, we're incredibly sorry," Christian said on "Today Tonight."

Both have said that they never expected the call to go through.

They also stressed Monday that while they made the call to the hospital, they did not have a say on whether it went to air. The call was recorded and then went through a vetting process at their network, Southern Cross Austereo, before it was broadcast, they said.

Holleran last week said he was "deeply saddened" by the nurse's death but defended the legality of the station's action, saying he was "very confident that we haven't done anything illegal."

Source:CNN