Clemson University Mourns Deaths of Four Students in Five Weeks as College Junior Takes Fatal Fall off Cruise Ship
Clemson University students -- both past and present -- faculty, and staff are mourning yet again the loss of a fellow Clemson student.
Kendall Wernet, junior, of Asheville, North Carolina, became the fourth student death in the past month after he took a fatal fall off of a cruise ship earlier this week.
According to a report from USA Today, Wernet plummeted to his death on Monday morning after falling from the radar platform of a Carnival cruise ship, which had docked in south Florida. Wernet's death occured at the end of a brief voyage put together to reward young entrepreneurs.
Wernet was the second Clemson student to pass in the space of the past week and the fourth fatality over the past month or so. In the evenings following his death, students gathered at Clemson for vigils to mourn this loss.
Wernet had been on a three-day long "awards cruise" for Macomb, Michigan-based Student Painters, according to the owner of said company, Steve Acorn.
On the final night of the cruise a group of students climbed up on the platform of the ship, Acorn told reporters.
"They had a group up there the night before and thought it would be a good idea to go up there at about 5:00 a.m. to see the sun rise over Miami," he told USA Today. "They were up there talking and the radar system went on ... based on where you were standing, it caught Kendall and threw him down."
The propeller of the radar system knocked Wernet off of the platform and he fell 20 feet -- the equivalent of two decks of the ship. Medical crews onboard the boat initiated emergency medical care until Wernet could be transferred to a nearby hospital.
According to officials in Miami-Dade County, the Clemson University junior was pronounced dead at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, due to blunt-trauma head injury.
Wernet was a driving force at Clemson University and was majoring in business management with a minor in accounting, according to school officials.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family and friends and we stand ready to help them through this difficult time," said Dean Shannon Finning of Clemson.
Only a week earlier, Clemson students gathered by "candlelight" (or the next-gen version of it, being cell-phone flashlight) to mourn the passing of sophomore political science major Tucker Hipps, of Piedmont, South Carolina.
Hipps was found dead in Lake Hartwell after apparently having fallen from the Highway 93 bridge on Sept. 22, according to a report from WYFF 4 Greenville News. Hipps had been on an early-morning run with a number of his Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brothers when he fell. The incident is still undergoing official investigation.
Hipps' parents released an official statement on his death this week.
"We would first like to thank our family, friends and community for their outpouring of love and support throughout the most painful days of our lives," said Gary and Cindy Hipps. "We are encouraged by the compassion and sympathy shown to us by familiar faces and complete strangers. It helps us to know that Tucker touched so many lives in his short nineteen years on this Earth."
Mr. and Mrs. Hipps also thanked local investigators in their statement and asked friends and family to "pray for the investigators so they can continue their search for answers as to the circumstances" surrounding their son's death.
Anyone with any information on Hipps' death is asked to call investigators at the Oconee County Sheriff's Department.
Eleven days prior to Hipps' passing, grad student Andrew T. O'Neil, of Knoxville, Tennessee, was reported dead on Sept. 11.
Few details were made public regarding how O'Neil died, but according to the Clemson University's obituaries website, he was a first-year graduate student in the entomology program. O'Neil is survived by his parents, brothers, family and friends.
The final of the four recent student deaths occurred suddenly on Aug. 24. Just two weeks after moving into her dorm, Clemson freshman Virginia Gilliant, of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina, died unexpectedly of complications related to a urinary tract infection, according to a local news report.
Gilliant became ill with a high fever on Aug. 21 and was admitted to a local hospital. Three days later medical officials reported that the freshman student had died. According to Gilliant's parents, her death was due to septic shock.
Clemson President James Clements made a statement on the string of deaths in a recent blog post, saying, "I ask that you continue to hold these very special young people and their families in your thoughts and prayers."
For the latest news & updates, follow reporter Bary Alyssa Johnson on Twitter: @MissBary
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