A student whose body was found on a St Andrews beach died as a result of a “tragic accident”, university officials said.
Kieran McCann, a first year economics and International Relations student at St Andrews University, had been missing since Tuesday evening.
His body was found on the beach below the seafront road known as The Scores in the university town on Thursday.
Police scoured the town after he was reporting missing, and hundreds of students had been preparing to join the effort when the tragic discovery was made.
Police have now confirmed the body was Kieran’s. There are believed to be no suspicious circumstances.
In a letter to all students and colleagues, university principal Professor Louise Richardson said the search for 18-year-old Kieran had ended “in the worst imaginable way”.
Professor Richardson said: “I’m afraid that I am writing with very sad news.
“As many of you will already be aware, the search for Kieran McCann, one of our students who had been missing since Tuesday night, ended in the worst imaginable way yesterday when a body was found on the foreshore near the Sea-Life Centre.
“Our worst fears were confirmed last night when Kieran was formally identified.
“While police are continuing their inquiries, everything we know suggests that he lost his life in a tragic accident.”
Kieran was from Los Angeles.