US student dies after falling off cliff in India

Image
AP Cambridge(US)
Last Updated : Jun 23 2014 | 7:25 AM IST
A graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who went missing more than a week ago in northern India has been found dead in a ravine after she reportedly slipped while jogging and fell several hundred feet off a cliff, MIT officials have said.
Kaitlin Goldstein, 28, of Providence, Rhode Island, was found dead Saturday in a remote region of northern India known as Ladakh, in a ravine below a trail where she went running on June 14. She hadn't been seen since. Her parents, who went to India to look for their daughter, told MIT officials that she apparently slipped on some loose rock before falling off the cliff.
Goldstein, a competitive runner, was working on a doctorate in architecture at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She arrived in India on June 7 to take part in a workshop on energy and development on the campus of the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh near the city of Leh.
The workshop was organized by the MIT-affiliated Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi. She had been scheduled to stay after the workshop and help install solar panels at a nearby Buddhist monastery, MIT officials said.
MIT President L. Rafael Reif sent an email to the members of the MIT community yesterday notifying them that Goldstein had died and that counselling services were available on campus.
"She was passionately interested in energy solutions for the developing world, a subject she was exploring in a remote region of northern India at the time of her death," Reif wrote. "The death of someone so young and promising is a terrible loss; we should all take time to reach out to those around us."
When Goldstein went missing, students and instructors at the Students' Educational and Cultural Movement of Ladakh began searching for her.
The search grew to include local police, the Intelligence Bureau of India, the American embassy in New Dehli, the US State Department and the FBI. MIT also hired a private security firm based in Mumbai.
Goldstein's parents, Jack Goldstein and Jean Plover, went to India to search for their daughter.
*Subscribe to Business Standard digital and get complimentary access to The New York Times

Smart Quarterly

₹900

3 Months

₹300/Month

SAVE 25%

Smart Essential

₹2,700

1 Year

₹225/Month

SAVE 46%
*Complimentary New York Times access for the 2nd year will be given after 12 months

Super Saver

₹3,900

2 Years

₹162/Month

Subscribe

Renews automatically, cancel anytime

Here’s what’s included in our digital subscription plans

Exclusive premium stories online

  • Over 30 premium stories daily, handpicked by our editors

Complimentary Access to The New York Times

  • News, Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter & The Athletic

Business Standard Epaper

  • Digital replica of our daily newspaper — with options to read, save, and share

Curated Newsletters

  • Insights on markets, finance, politics, tech, and more delivered to your inbox

Market Analysis & Investment Insights

  • In-depth market analysis & insights with access to The Smart Investor

Archives

  • Repository of articles and publications dating back to 1997

Ad-free Reading

  • Uninterrupted reading experience with no advertisements

Seamless Access Across All Devices

  • Access Business Standard across devices — mobile, tablet, or PC, via web or app

More From This Section

First Published: Jun 23 2014 | 7:25 AM IST

Next Story