India, Feb. 22 -- When Aidan O'Grady left the United States for a semester in Spain, it was meant to be an ordinary study-abroad experience. Days later, the North Carolina State University student died unexpectedly. The death has raised fresh questions about student safety during overseas study programmes.

Weeks before his death, a University of Michigan student, Zachary Park, suffered a traumatic brain injury in Madrid. On the same day, an Indian student was killed and two others were injured in a road accident in eastern Kazakhstan while returning from an excursion, according to the Indian Embassy.

Separate cases involving assaults and student deaths in Canada and the United Kingdom have further raised concerns.

Many students prepare...