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1 U of I student dead, another missing in Brazil

One University of Illinois student is dead of an illness likely contracted in Brazil and another is missing in a separate incident in the country.

University spokeswoman Robin Kaler said Thursday that 29-year-old Ashley S. Walls of Chicago died Monday in Florianopolis in southeast Brazil.

Kaler says privacy laws prevent her from identifying the illness. But she says Walls likely contracted the illness in Brazil while doing graduate research in education policy.

Kaler says the other student, 20-year-old Richard Fu of Taiwan, is missing after swimming in the Atlantic Ocean on Saturday at Arraial do Cabo, east of Rio de Janeiro. He was with another University of Illinois student and one from Purdue.

Fu was part of a study-abroad program. Kaler says his family has been flown to Brazil.

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