A statement on SOAS student Samaria Ayanle

Statement - 13 March 2024

We are deeply saddened to hear that police have discovered a body which is believed to be that of Samaria Ayanle, who was a first-year student at SOAS University of London, studying for a BA in Japanese and the History of Art. Our thoughts are with her family, loved ones and friends at this difficult time.

We know that this news will be felt by many and we will be doing everything we can to support friends, family and the wider student and staff community. We urge members of the SOAS community who have been affected by this news to reach out if you need support.

Update - 14 March 2024

When a tragic death like this occurs, we know that people will have many questions to make sense of what has happened, and we await the conclusion of the police investigation to provide answers to these questions.

We also want to provide reassurance that when students raised concerns about Samaria Ayanle with the university, we immediately began taking steps to attempt to contact Samaria, including attempting to contact her next-of-kin, contacting Samaria directly, and asking for checks to be made in her halls of residence.

Out of respect for the confidentiality of Samaria, we were unable to share details of the steps we were taking with the students who contacted us, however we did reply to the students on the same day they contacted us to confirm that we would be taking action, and we began working on the case on that day.

Statement originally published on 13 March 2024, further update added on 14 March 2024. 

Support available for members of the SOAS community

We have emailed all students and staff on 13 March 2024 with details of support available at SOAS.