Michigan college student, 19, dies after falling from hotel balcony during spring break in cancun

A student from Henry Ford College in Michigan fell to his death while vacationing in Mexico on March 9, according to reports. Ahmed Altaii and his girlfriend were visiting Cancun for spring

break when he fell from a seventh-floor balcony, _The Yucatan Times_ reports. Local authorities are now conducting an investigation, which will include an autopsy and toxicology report, to

help determine the cause of death of the 19-year-old, who was seen acting “nervous or anxious” and “pacing around the hotel room” before the accident, witnesses said. According to _Press

and_ _Guide_, a video that has since been removed from social media allegedly showed Altaii sitting on the edge of the balcony when he was bumped into by another person, which may have

caused his fall. “I miss him so much,” Altaii’s girlfriend, Heidi Newman, said at a vigil held this weekend near the university. The couple met on their first day of freshman year at the

university, and have been together a year and a half. “We were so happy,” she continued, according to the _Detroit Free Press_. “He was the love of my life. I wish he was here right now, we

all do.” After the investigation has concluded, Altaii will be laid to rest in Iraq, where most of his family lives, the _Press and Guide_ reported. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the

family with burial costs and has since raised $12,000 from nearly 300 donors in just two days. Many left the Arabic phrase, “Allah yerhamo,” on the donation page, which means “God bless his

soul.” Altaii was in the university’s School of Business, Entrepreneurship and Professional Development, which he had been a part of since high school. “Ahmed’s passing is a terrible loss

for our community,” the college said in a statement to NBC News. “All of us at Henry Ford College send our deepest condolences and sympathy to the family and friends who are suffering from

this tragedy.”