LEWISTON — A Bates College freshman studying in the Shetland Islands died Saturday after going for an evening swim, according to Scottish police who also said in a release that circumstances around 19-year-old Evan Dube’s death don’t appear suspicious.
Dube was part of the Shetland Islands Climate and Settlement Project, in Scotland with nine other students, a Bates lecturer and a professor, Bates spokesman Roland Adams said in a news release. The project also involved other colleges.
After joining students for a cookout on the Shetland Island of Mainland around 9 p.m., Dube dove into the ocean then collapsed when he got out of the water, police said. Students tried to help him. He was treated by an ambulance then airlifted to a hospital, where all resuscitation attempts failed.
Dube was from Plaistow, N.H. Adams said he was remembered on campus Sunday night in a memorial that drew more than 200 people as “a young man who was studious and serious, exuberant and funny — and a caring friend.”
Dube stood out early on campus, becoming the first incoming student in September 2011 to recite the Bates mission statement from memory. An actor, he was in a production of “Bus Stop” last fall.
Students who were studying abroad with him are receiving grief counseling, Adams said. They will return to the states Tuesday.
Dube was a Buddhist. At Bates, the Multifaith Chaplaincy and Heath Center are helping people on campus who want to talk about the loss.
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