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Student killed in fire in China | Student killed in fire in China |
(about 2 hours later) | |
A "talented" post-graduate student from the Vale of Glamorgan has died in a fire while researching in China. | |
Bristol University student Daniel McCulloch, 25, from Cowbridge, died in his apartment in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong province on Wednesday. | |
His father Robert said they had been told he was overcome by smoke. The authorities are still investigating. | His father Robert said they had been told he was overcome by smoke. The authorities are still investigating. |
Mr McCulloch, who was studying engineering mathematics, had been in China for only four weeks. | Mr McCulloch, who was studying engineering mathematics, had been in China for only four weeks. |
The student, a keen rugby player, was due to spend nine months in the south east of China as part of his work into flood prevention for his PhD. | |
we have been touched by the glowing tributes to him. He was a wonderful boy Robert McCulloch, Daniel's father | |
Robert and Jessica McCulloch, who have another son Matthew, are waiting for more information about the fire in which their son died. | |
Mr McCulloch said: "Daniel was doing a research PhD into the problems of flood prevention. | |
"He had an opportunity to go to China to work on the data they had over there. He had only been there for a month. | |
"We are still in the dark as to what has happened - there have been no official findings yet. | |
"We are a happy, close family and it's been a big shock to us. But we have been touched by the glowing tributes to him. He was a wonderful boy." | |
The student arrived in China after Christmas | |
Bristol University issued a statement, paying tribute to "a kind and outgoing person". | |
Dr Jonathan Lawry, a reader in Artificial Intelligence, spoke of the shock that people there were feeling. | |
"Daniel was an extremely talented student in the final year of his PhD and was rapidly maturing into an excellent independent researcher," Dr Lawry said. | |
"He had already produced a number of publications and was very much looking forward to the challenge of working on data from some of the largest rivers in China. | |
"Daniel was an undergraduate in engineering mathematics at Bristol before going on to study for a PhD with us, so I came to know him very well during his time here. | |
"He was a very kind, outgoing person who kept everyone smiling. He will be greatly missed by both staff and students. | |
"We are all shocked and deeply saddened by this tragedy and wish to pass on our condolences to his family at this terribly difficult time." | |
A spokesman for the Foreign Office said they were providing full consular assistance. | |
"The Chinese police are leading the investigation into the circumstances of the incident," he added. |