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Michigan Tech student dies during weekend hiking trip in UP

Posted at 1:10 AM, Apr 30, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-30 01:10:52-04

ISHPEMING, Mich. (AP) — Police say a Michigan Technological University student died from apparent hypothermia during a weekend hiking trip with classmates in the Upper Peninsula.

The Marquette County Sheriff’s Office says the man was pronounced dead Saturday morning in a wooded area along Rocking Chair Lake about 17 miles north of Ishpeming.

His name was not immediately released.

WLUC-TV reports the student was one of six 19- to 20-year-old males, all current Michigan Tech students, who went hiking Friday evening.

After one of the students went for firewood and didn’t return, his friends found him cold and wet. They built a fire to warm him, but he began showing signs of severe hypothermia.

The students called authorities about 4:30 a.m. Saturday, but it took searchers more than three hours to find them.