Cause of death of Vietnamese student in Dortmund confirmed
Dortmund police have verified the cause, but not its manner, of last week’s death of a Vietnamese student whose family had to call for donations to afford a trip to the German city to see her body.
Tran Thi Thu Ha died after falling from a height at around 11:40 am in Dortmund on March 11, Vietnam’s national broadcaster VTV reported on March 20, citing the Vietnamese Consulate General in Frankfurt.
The Vietnamese consular agency said it got the official information from Dortmund police, who already performed an autopsy on the 21-year-old student.
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| Tran Thu Ha is seen in this photo posted on the Facebook page of her older sister on March 20, 2018. |
Police are still working to verify the manner of her death, be it an accident, suicide or homicide.
Tran Kim Ngan, the girl’s older sister, said on her Facebook on March 18 that Ha had been studying at the Haaga – Helia University of Applied Sciences in Finland on a full scholarship before her death.
On March 7, Ha left Finland for Germany to attend a student exchange program at the ISM International School of Management Dortmund, and the family lost contact with her between March 9 and 15, before learning of her death.
An online fundraising drive with a reported goal of EUR50,000 (US$61,000) was launched on Facebook to help Ngan and her mother travel to Germany to see and bring the deceased girl home.
Ngan told people on her Facebook on March 19, three days into the fundraising, that the call for donations was ceased as they had “raised enough money,” without disclosing a specific number.
The older sister has since made no further updates on the family’s plan to travel to Dortmund.
The Consular Department under Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has provided guidelines for the family to complete post-death formalities for Ha, according to VTV.
National carrier Vietnam Airlines has offered to cover airfares for the family.
According to the foreign ministry, when a Vietnamese citizen dies overseas, competent Vietnamese agencies will work with their counterparts in that country to look into the case and request a probe to verify the cause of death.
The state agencies, however, will only support the family in terms of protocols, and all expenses, such as travel, accommodation and body transportation, will be covered by the family.
