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A CSU student has died in a plane crash in Nepal, leaving a hole in the hearts of those who knew her.
Rojina Shrestha, along with her mother, father and younger sister, were among 22 people killed in her home country of Nepal on May 29, according to media reports.
The flight left the resort town of Pokhara, 200 km west of Kathmandu, according to media reports. The plane was on a scheduled 20-minute flight to the mountain town of Jomsom when it crashed near the town in an “area of deep gorges and mountains”, according to an Associated Press report on the ‘accident.
According to a preliminary investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, or CAAN, bad weather was the cause of the Tara Air Twin Otter turboprop crash.
Callie Slaughter was a co-teacher and a member of Strestha’s cohort, both pursuing their doctorates in cell and molecular biology at Colorado State University.
Slaughter said the trip to Nepal was the first time Strestha, 23, and her 20-year-old sister Rabina, who also studied in the United States, had been with their parents in Nepal in years.
“She was a very dear friend to me and a beautiful light in this world,” Slaughter wrote in an email. “She was a teacher, a student, a scientist and a wonderful friend. I will miss her very much.”
Slaughter said Stestha’s favorite TV show was ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and she was going to be teaching her friend to drive this summer because she had just gotten her license.
“She was trying to make a difference in this life,” Slaughter said. “I am in pain right now.”
Carol Wilusz, a professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology and director of the Cellular and Molecular Biology program at CSU, wrote in an email to students in the program that Strestha transferred to CSU from Purdue in August. She was at the Snow Lab in Chemical and Biological Engineering and was working on her Ph.D. research project on the biology of synthetic proteins.
Wilusz wrote that part of the reason for the transfer was that Strestha was getting closer to his partner, Prasiddha (Sid) Shakya, who is studying for a doctorate in economics at CSU.
“Rojina was a valued and loved member of our freshman cohort and we will miss her terribly,” Wilusz wrote in the email, which was shared with the Coloradoan. “As we come to terms with this devastating loss, we will find ways to celebrate, remember and honor Rojina’s short life.”
Resources are available to provide support to all faculty, staff and students, Wilusz wrote.
Strestha is survived by Shakya and an older brother.
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Journalist Miles Blumhardt seeks stories that impact your life. Whether it’s news, outdoors, sports – you name it, it wants to report it. Do you have a story idea? Reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter @MilesBlumhardt. Support his work and that of other Colorado journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
