Nigerian student, 19, found dead in his Southampton University room

fuad lawal

April 25, 2015 12:01 PM

Alexander Ukwu, 19, a Nigerian student, was found dead in his Southampton Hartley Grove Halls room due to a "helium leak".

The student, who died on Thursday April 23rd. Alex was an alumni of Loyola Jesuit College Class of 2012, was a first year student at the UK university studying MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

In a statement released by the University, he was found dead around 11.26am on Thursday morning inside a student halls of residence room filled with helium.

A team of chemical experts had been called in to make sure it was safe for students who lived at the hall to go inside the building due to a large amounts of helium gas detected inside.

While carrying out a room-to-room search, they discovered that Alexander's door was locked. Upon breaking it down, they discovered the body of the deceased. The halls were then cordoned off until at least 3pm. Alex's death is not being treated as a suspicious case.

Neil White, head of the electronics and computer science department, said in a statement to students:

No statements have been made by the family of the deceased as at press time.

fuad lawal