CHENNAI: A third-year undergraduate student at the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras was found dead on Sunday night near the railway tracks in Andhra Pradesh, the institute authorities said in an email to its students on Monday.

The institute said the student enrolled in the Metallurgical & Materials Engineering Department’s B.Tech programme was travelling from Delhi to Chennai by train.

The circumstances around the student’s death are not clear yet. The student left the Chennai campus on October 3 and was on his way back.

The institute said the railway police were investigating the student’s “tragic and untimely death” and “expresses its heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the deceased student”.

“We request that everyone respect the privacy of the family at this unfortunate moment.”

The IIT-Madras authorities declined to share details of the incident.

“The Institute is extending all cooperation to the investigating authorities,“ the institute said in response to a request by HT. “The demise of the young student is indeed a huge loss to the Institute and the society at large”.

The institute started conducting wellness sessions for students in May this year that involved one-on-one conversations between counsellors and students, staff and faculty of the institute after four students died by suicide from February to April this year.