- Elmer Arrieta, 27, died while hiking on Olkhon Island in Siberia on Saturday
- The architecture grad student was one of 20 students on the study hike
- Arrieta was born in El Paso and loved to play soccer for fun, friends say
A Texas Tech University student has died in a fall while hiking on an island in Siberia.
Elmer Arrieta, 27, died on Saturday on Olkhon Island in Russia’s Eastern Siberia. He was participating in a group study hike with about 20 other hikers organized through the University of Texas.
‘He was a dedicated architecture student and a respected and cherished member of our Red Raider family. Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time,’ Texas Tech said in a statement.
Elmer Arrieta, 27, died on Saturday while participating in a group study hike though the University of Texas, with about 20 other hikers on Olkhon Island in Russia’s Eastern Siberia
Arrieta was born in El Paso and attended Texas Tech as an undergraduate before pursuing a master’s degree in architecture from the school
Arrieta was born in El Paso and attended Texas Tech as an undergraduate before pursuing a master’s degree in architecture from the school.
‘My heart aches knowing I won’t be able to meet him at the bar for a beer and a good debate, like we did a hundred times before,’ his close friend Jose Monarrez told the Austin Statesman.
UT officials told the publication that the study abroad program in Russia was open to students from other universities.
They did not specify how Arrieta died from the fall or what kind of injuries he had sustained.
The rugged cliffs of Olkhon Island are seen in a file photo. The Siberian island sits within Lake Baikal, the world’s oldest and largest freshwater lake
Shaman’s Rock (above) on the western coast of Olkhon, is said to be home to the lord deity of Lake Baikal by the indigenous Buryats, who fear and revere the sacred landmark
University of Texas Dean of Students Soncia Reagins-Lilly says Arrieta’s parents have been notified and the school is providing assistance to them.
School counselors also have been sent to Irkutsk, the major city in the area.
Olkhon Island is the world’s fourth largest island within a lake, and sit within the world’s oldest and largest freshwater lake, Lake Baikal.
The island has been inhabited since antiquity and boasts a dramatic geography including forests, steppes and a small desert.
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