Student dies at B.C. fest

Members of the University of Regina community are mourning after they learned of the death of one of their own.

Dean Esam Hussein of the Faculty of Engineering was shocked to learn on Saturday that a camper found dead Friday night at the Pemberton Music Festival, in Pemberton, B.C., was 21-year-old Nick Phongsavath from Regina.

“On behalf of the faculty and myself, we’d like to express our condolescences to the family — this is a tragedy,” Hussein said Sunday.

Hussein didn’t know Phongsavath, but he’s been told the young man was a well-liked student.

“My understanding is that he was currently completing a year-long internship this summer,” Hussein said. “He was to come back in the fall for what would have been the final year of his undergraduate studies in software systems engineering.”

Today, Hussein will be looking into the best way to honour Phongsavath’s memory at the university.

“We are all in a state of shock,” he said. “(This) morning, I will approach students to see what kind of support they need. They’re obviously shaken ... We’ll all miss him — this is really sad for us.”

Risa Payant returned to Regina from the Pemberton Music Festival on Sunday. She did not know Phongsavath, but heard about his death while she was at the festival.

However, information was difficult to come by.

“We came home back to the camp between acts and we saw the campsite taped off, but there was no police or security presence,” Payant said. “We were wondering what was up with that. We ended up charging our phones and got the news reports that someone had died at Pemberton.

“We were asking secu- rity for more information, but none of them seemed to know what was going on and the festival didn’t actually address it until 12 hours later. They sent out this email blast saying that the RCMP had determined that the site was safe.”

“WE ARE ALL IN A STATE OF SHOCK. ... WE’LL ALL MISS HIM — THIS IS REALLY SAD ...” DEAN ESAM HUSSEIN