Teen Boy Who Died in Avalanche Is Identified as Son of Olympian
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The American teenager who died in an avalanche in Switzerland on Monday while on spring break has been identified as Illinois high school student Aleksas Beiga.
Beiga, a 15-year-old freshman at Naperville Central High School, died during the April 1 avalanche near a Swiss ski resort in Zermatt.
The incident also claimed the lives of a 25-year-old Canadian woman and a 58-year-old Swiss man, local police said in a statement.
A GoFundMe page created by a friend of the boy’s dad — former Olympic swimmer Nerijus Beiga, 52, who represented Lithuania at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games — has raised more than $52,000 as of Saturday to support the Beiga family.
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“Whether he was diving into the swimming pool, racing down the trails on his bike, or carving up the slopes on his skis, Aleksas approached every moment with enthusiasm and passion,” Neringa Mockus wrote on the GoFundMe page.
“The sudden loss of Aleksas has left an irreparable void in the hearts of his family and friends,” she added. ”The pain of his absence is immeasurable, and the grief weighs heavily on all who knew and loved him.”
Mockus went on to explain how the funds would be used.
“The financial burden of bringing Aleksas’ body home and navigating the aftermath of this tragedy is immense, and any contribution, no matter how small, will make a meaningful difference in alleviating their burden,” she continued. “But beyond financial support, we also ask for your prayers and thoughts as we mourn the loss of this beautiful soul."
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Aside from his dad, Beiga is survived by his mom, Sonata, and sister, Eva.
“It was a shock,” Eva, 20, told the Chicago Tribune. “We got to do a lot of those adventurous things together. We got to go on bike rides with him, got to walk around with him. And (those) are memories that I’ll cherish forever.”
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