THE death of another student at Lancaster University - the sixth in recent years - has added to a "hard, tragic year" at the institution.

Sami Kalle Juhana Janakka, 23, from Finland, fell to his death from a 14 storey hall of residence in the early hours of Sunday morning. Police sources say there were no suspicious circumstances.

His is the sixth death since the beginning of last summer. At least two of the of the others were suicides and two were accidents. Another is still being investigated by a coroner. A spokesman for the university commented: "This has been a hard year, a real tragic year. Each of these tragedies is obviously one too many but we don't think we have more on average than other universities.

"It's a lot to do with the age group of students and possibly the fact that we have a campus which can be isolated. They are young and can be vulnerable. We have a counselling service and each student has a personal tutor." Sami, a third year politics student, fell from a communal kitchen window from the top floor of Bowland Tower at 3.25am. He hit a veranda before landing on Alexandra Square on the campus. He was known as KJ to his friends and was a popular student. He had been vice-chairman of the junior common room.

During the Christmas holidays a female student was found dead while she was at home. In October Palestinian student Nasser Youssef was found dead in his room at a university hall of residence. Last June Marc Wasley fell to death from the Ashton Memorial.

There were a further two deaths in October when James Raw, just 18, died in a bus crash on Parliament Street coming back from a nightclub in Morecambe. Jeremy Boothroyd died in a diving accident in Conniston Water in the same month.

A memorial was planned for James Raw. There will be a vigil for Sami at the Anglican Free Church Chapel at 1.15pm on Friday.

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