Three students were killed yesterday (April 23) near the University of Minho, Braga, when a wall collapsed on them during yet another alleged ‘academic ritual’ (praxe) gone horribly wrong. Another three students were injured as well.
The three youngsters – aged between 18 and 21 – were students of the Computer Engineering course at the northern Portugal university, and are believed to have been engaging in a ‘war’ between rival courses with Medicine students.
Jornal de Notícias newspaper reports that the incident occurred when a number of Computer Engineering freshmen students were ordered by their older peers to climb a wall, located near their university, to confront the Medicine students positioned on higher ground.
However, the wall could not hold their weight and ended up collapsing, crushing three students who were standing next to it.
INEM emergency services were called, but the three young men could not be saved. The psychology department of the university was also at the scene to provide support to bystanders and students.
“The students are in a state of shock. This is a very difficult time for everyone,” the president of the Associação Académica da UM Carlos Vieira told Expresso newspaper shortly after the incident, which is believed to have taken place around 9.30pm.
Although university rector António Cunha first refused to speak to the national media, he has since published a short statement on the university’s website: “The University of Minho deeply regrets what has happened, sends the family of the victims its most heartfelt condolences and expresses its solidarity to all those affected by the tragedy.”
For now, no further details about the incident were provided, although Braga Mayor Ricardo Rio told Expresso newspaper that during his time in office “there had been no complaints about the wall”. Apparently, the structure was used to support a number of mailboxes of a nearby building.
This new tragedy comes nearly five months after five university students were washed away by strong waves and killed during a praxe on Meco beach. At the time, the incident generated a nationwide debate about these ‘ritualistic’ university trials, which is now expected to intensify.
