Police are investigating the death of a student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (HUTECH), who died on campus on Tuesday after being purportedly hit on the head by a falling concrete slab.

The 29-year-old victim, Nguyen Thanh Long, was enrolled in environmental science at HUTECH’s Institute of Applied Sciences.

According to initial police reports, the man was queuing for an elevator out in an open yard at around 6:10 pm on Tuesday when a concrete slab detached from the 17th story of a block and fell onto his head, killing him on the spot.

The site of the accident is on HUTECH’s main campus on Dien Bien Phu Street in Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

Photos of the accident began circulating online the same evening, sparking rumor that Long had committed suicide.

The site of the accident. Photo: Facebook

Both the school board and Long’s family have dismissed such rumor, citing evidence retrieved from CCTV footage that the concrete slab had caused his death.

Binh Thanh District police officers arrived shortly after receiving reports of the accident to perform a scene investigation and autopsy.

According to Nguyen Quoc Anh, vice-rector of HUTECH, university staff had paid a visit to Long’s family to offer their condolences and provide financial support to cover his funeral’s expenses.

A memorial table has also been set up on the HUTECH campus for Long’s classmates and professors to offer flowers and pay their last respects to the ill-fated student, Anh added.

Long was the firstborn in a family of three children. He took evening classes at HUTECH outside of his full-time job.

The overhang from which the concrete slab fell off. Photo: Tuoi Tre

“A school employee phoned at around 7:00 pm [on Tuesday] and told me that [Long] had been involved in an accident,” Long’s mother Nguyen Thi Mau, 51, recalled the fateful night with local news site Zing.

“My husband and I took off immediately. When we arrived, they asked us to fill out a bunch of papers before allowing us to see our son two hours later.”

“It turned out it was not a motorbike accident, but one involving a concrete slab,” Mau was quoted by Zing as saying.

“Why did my son have to die just for being in school?”

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