Details slowly emerge surrounding junior's death

Details about the circumstances surrounding the unexpected death of Engineering junior Oliver Pacchiana on Sunday are beginning to emerge.

After visiting Victoria Falls and Botswana with a group of United States students while studying abroad in South Africa, Pacchiana broke off from the group to visit Namibia, a country about 1,000 miles north of Cape Town. While rock climbing, he slipped and suffered a fatal fall.

Pacchiana was studying at the University of Cape Town through a program run by the Council on International Educational Exchange, a nonprofit. As required by the program, he submitted spring break travel plans, Brenda Majeski, a senior vice president at CIEE, said in an email. The trip was planned independently and was not sponsored by the program.

After splitting off from the group of students, Pacchiana was with a group of “older tourists,” Alec Lorraine, a Lehigh University student who is currently studying in Cape Town, said in a Facebook message. Lorraine’s travel group briefly met Pacchiana’s in Botswana.

“Oliver was very independent, though, so going on a trip like that by himself is exactly something he would do,” Lorraine added.

The Daily Pennsylvanian has been unable to get in contact with anyone who was with Pacchiana when the accident occurred.

Director of Penn Abroad Barbara Gorka said in an email that Penn has been coordinating with “the family, CIEE, the State Department and International SOS.”

A funeral service will be held on Saturday, April 6, at 2:30 p.m. at St. Paul Church in Pacchiana’s hometown of Greenwich, Conn.

A campus memorial service for Pacchiana is being planned by family and friends in coordination with University Chaplain Chaz Howard.

Anyone wishing to comment should contact author Will Marble at marble.will@gmail.com.