A Chinese PhD student at King’s College London was found dead in London in February, after being registered as missing for two weeks. The local police had been searching for her, and had made her image public in an attempt to find her.
Police discovered Yan Sihong’s body at an address in Westminster, central London, and are not treating the death as suspicious, according to a statement.
“The university is offering support to any of her friends and fellow students affected by this tragedy”
The 35-year-old had been studying at King’s since September 2016 and had been missing for two weeks prior to the police discovering the body when she failed to meet friends during Lunar New Year celebrations.
Kerry Brown, director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London and Sihong’s tutor said that the university was saddened and shocked to hear of Sihong’s death.
“She was an extremely hard-working, intelligent student and an active member of the PhD community here where she was studying Political Economy.
“We have been in touch with her family and our thoughts are with them at this difficult time. The university is offering support to any of her friends and fellow students affected by this tragedy.”
Westminster Coroner’s Court is unable to update press unless an inquest is opened, which would only happen if the circumstances surrounding Ms Sihong’s death were deemed suspicious or unexplained.
It seems the safety of international students is becoming more important when choosing study abroad destinations.
In January, a report found that there had been a major jump in students flagging up safety concerns as influencing their study abroad decisions.
Similarly, Study.EU stated that students are increasingly concerned with the safety of their host countries in February.
