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Travellers invited to pay tribute to ex-JFS pupil who died while trekking in South America
The body of David Minn, 24, was discovered on a hiking trail in Argentina
January 30, 2018 12:25
The body of David Minn, 24, was discovered on a hiking trail in Argentina
January 30, 2018 12:25Family and friends have paid tribute to a former JFS pupil who died while on a tour of South America.
The body of David Minn, 24, was discovered on a hiking trail in Argentina.
According to local media he had fallen while hiking alone in the Tierra del Fuego region.
The aerospace engineer, who graduated from the University of Sheffield last year, had been declared missing on Monday after he failed to return to his hostel.
His sister, Hayley, 26, a journalist for the Daily Mirror, paid tribute to him in an Instagram post.
“To my perfect baby brother David, I love you so much and I’m heartbroken right now,” she wrote.
“I can’t believe I’m never going to see you and that massive smile or hear that infectious dirty laugh everyone’s been talking about ever again.”
Mr Minn, a former member of the FZY Jewish youth group, was a keen traveller. His family is encouraging people to pay tribute to him by sharing their own travelling experiences in his name.
A Facebook page set up in his memory explained: “To keep his adventures and his memory alive, we want you to put the hashtag he was using during his travels - #MinnMakesHisWay - in a bottle and send it out to sea whenever you’re near a coast, or traveling on holiday.”
People have been asked to write their name and where they are sending it from along with the following instructions.
“If found, please take a picture and post it to the Facebook page Minn Makes His Way, and tell us where you found it. Then throw it back to sea so David Minn can continue his travels forever.”
His sister wrote: “You were always the younger brother I could never live up to, who everyone adored and you never had a bad word to say about anyone.
“This is the most unjust thing that has ever happened, but I’m so happy we came out to see you in South America in December and that I got to spend two weeks with you - and get so drunk neither of us remember why I ended up asleep in the corridor of a hotel.
“I miss you so much already, and I really hope you’re up in heaven with Nana looking down on us and seeing that you’re being called a rocket scientist in the papers, because I know you’d love that.”
Sheffield University also paid tribute to the former student.
“We are incredibly saddened to hear about the death of graduate David Minn. David graduated with an MEng in aerospace engineering in 2017,” it said.
It is believed Mr Minn, from Borehamwood, fell more than 100 feet and suffered a blow to his head.
He arrived in Ushuaia, known as “the end of the world”, on Sunday, January 21 before leaving the hostel the following day.
When he had not returned that evening hostel owners alerted the police. His body was discovered by a group of trekkers two days later.
Mr Minn was on what was intended to be a seven-month tour of South America after working at a Jewish summer camp in New Hampshire, in the United States.
