University reeling after French student's death

Two days after a 23-year-old French exchange student was found dead in southern Sweden, university officials have expressed their shock at the loss, and are holding a memorial service in his honour.

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Samuel Babin was found dead by police on Wednesday night in the woods of Karlskrona.

He had been missing for two weeks, prompting concerns from fellow students at the Blekinge Institute of Technology, where Babin had been studying.

"We are all of course appalled by his death," university spokeswoman Margareta Ahlström told The Local on Friday.

"The Student Health Service and our teachers will, of course, support his fellow students and friends in this situation."

Babin was one of roughly 1,200 foreign students at the university, and was on exchange from INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées de Rennes) in Rennes, France.

He studied single subject courses during the fall semester.

Babin's death marks the second time in a year that a foreign student enrolled at the university has gone missing only to later turn up dead.

In April last year, another exchange student was also found dead after disappearing earlier in the year.

Despite the two tragedies, Ahlström explained that the university nevertheless takes great care to help foreign students adjust to life in Sweden.

"We are very thorough when it comes to informing our foreign students about all the things that may seem new or odd to them - both weather conditions, cultural differences and the university system of course," she said.

She added that the university plans to hold a memorial service on Friday in Babin's memory.

The Local/Oliver Gee
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