Back-to-back deaths of 7 Indian students leave community shaken and worried

A string of back-to-back deaths of Indian students at colleges like Purdue, the University of Illinois and the University of Cincinnati have left South Asians shaken.

A string of back-to-back deaths of Indian students at colleges across the country has left the South Asian community shaken, sparking anxiety in peers and parents.

In 2024 alone, seven students of both Indian and Indian American origin have died. All men 25 years old and under, two died by suicide, two died of overdoses, two were found dead after going missing, and one was beaten to death, according to police records in states ranging from Connecticut to Indiana.

In Indian communities both in the U.S. and abroad, many are looking for answers.

“It felt like a pattern, like, why was it another Indian kid?” said Virag Shah, 21, a junior at Purdue University in Indiana, where two of the seven deaths occurred. “It just felt traumatic.”

Shah is the president of the school’s Indian Students Association, and he says his peers are alarmed by the repeated incidents.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/7-indian-students-deaths-rcna137789

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