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USC Student Found Dead, Alcohol Poisoning Suspected
(Photo by ~db~ via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
A University of Southern California student who was found dead last weekend may have died from alcohol poisoning, just as the school started to crack down on student drinking and partying, officials said Monday.
Preliminary findings show 20-year-old Thu Yain "Roy" Kyaw, a sophomore at USC's Marshall School of Business, died of "acute alcohol toxicity," according to the L.A. County Coroner's office. Final toxicology results could take sic to eight weeks, however. Kyaw's roommates found him lying facedown and unconscious in his apartment, a few blocks from USC's South Los Angeles campus.
His death comes in the wake of a university-issued ban on weekday fraternity parties, following a string of alcohol-related injuries. Just this month, seven people were hospitalized due to over-intoxication, USC Department of Public Safety records show. There were an additional six alcohol-related incidents last weekend, though half involved non-USC students.
Two of Kyaw's neighbors at the Monte Carlo apartment complex told Neon Tommy that he was found dead in his bed after suffocating on his own vomit. The Singapore-born student had not been seen for a few days after a party at his apartment, according to the LAPD.
Kyaw's brother, also a student at the Marshall School of Business, wrote a Facebook message regarding his younger brother's death:
I know it's a hard time for everyone especially because of how sudden these news are. However, I just want everyone to remember that accidents do happen, and death is as inevitable a part of life as life itself - his departure just came a lot sooner than we expected. He has gone on to a better place now and is resting in peace smiling, because all of you have made his life up to this point worth living! Thank you so much for that.
Further investigation of Kyaw's death is pending.
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