21-yr-old American University student found dead at Beirut hotel

A 21-year-old student of the American University of Beirut (AUB), Nicole Assaf, has been found dead in a Beirut hotel yard.

A security source who spoke with The Daily Star said her body was found late on Thursday in the empty lot behind Midtown Hotel and Suites in Beirut's Hamra district, just two blocks from AUB.

The source also said investigators are trying to determine if she was murdered or committed suicide.

Police investigators are examining the area where she was found and surveillance camera footage for clues.

An unnamed source at the Midtown hotel said Assaf was neither a guest nor resident at the hotel.

AUB confirmed the dead in a Facebook update posted around 9am on Wednesday.

"‪#‎AUBNews: ‪#‎AUB mourns the death of civil engineering student Nicole Assaf who passed away yesterday. FEA - Faculty of Engineering & Architecture AUB," the statement read.

Several students and well-wishers commented on the update to express their condolences.

"This is heart wrenching. There are too many young adults dying," Gwendolyn Potter Bachir wrote.

Assaf was studying for a degree in Civil Engineering at AUB's Faculty of Engineering & Architecture.