NBAU student dies during marathon race

Cooch Behar: A pall of grief enveloped the campus of North Bengal Agricultural University (NBAU) on Sunday after the tragic death of a first-year student during a marathon race organised to mark Youth Day and the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.

Riyas Rai (18), a student in the Department of Agriculture, hailed from the Gorubathan area of Jalpaiguri district. He participated in the annual marathon, which was flagged off from Patla Khawa to the university campus in Pundibari. Witnesses reported that Riyas began to feel unwell shortly after the race started. He was immediately taken to Pundibari Primary Health Centre and later referred to Cooch Behar MJN Medical College and Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

News of his untimely demise sparked an outpouring of grief, with students, faculty members, and local residents gathering at the hospital to pay their respects. The incident has cast a shadow over the university’s annual event.

Sohan Rana Ahmed, President of the Trinamool Shiksha Bandhu Cell of the university’s employees’ organisation, expressed his condolences, saying: “The marathon is organised every year, and both students and teachers actively participate. Riyas’s sudden collapse has left the entire university community in mourning.”