"There is a huge number of students who love to go, and in the past, it has been a very successful experience for them," he said. "It's just sad to see something like this happen."

This particular voyage to Austria has been accident-free in previous years, at least involving any Utah high school students and recent graduates.

The United States Embassy in Vienna reported that Yeates slipped and fell more than 60 feet to a stream bed beneath the trail. Timothy said other students have said the well-traveled trail they were hiking in Heiligenblut, of the Alpine republic's province of Carinthia, was wet and slippery and Yeates had simply lost his footing. It is unknown exactly how Yeates died, but authorities in Vienna believe he hit his head on a rock during the fall and succumbed to the head injury.

Yeates' family could not be reached by phone for comment. His mother, Kelly Yeates, is an English teacher at Park City High School.

"It's been a rough year for us with former students," Timothy said. Earlier this year, another Park City High graduate, Connie Blount, 18, was killed in a hit-and-run accident while she was walking across a street near the University of Kentucky.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com