Washington: A 26-year-old Indian national working in California met a tragic end while on vacation with his friends as he drowned in the famous Glacier National Park in Montana, according to park authorities. He was identified as Siddhant Vitthal Patil from the Indian state of Maharashtra, the National Park Service said in a statement.
Patil was hiking above the gorge on July 6 on Avalanche Lake Trail where he fell off a large rock into Avalanche Creek. It is unknown whether he slipped on a wet portion of the rock or lost his balance. His friends said they saw him go underwater and resurface before he was swept by the current into the gorge.
Patil's body is yet to be located despite helicopters conducting aerial searches, but officials suspected that the body was being held down by submerged obstacles like fallen trees and rocks. Patil was presumed dead by authorities. Rangers are continuously monitoring the area and are starting to recover personal items that have washed downstream.
Rangers flew a drone to try and determine the location of the body, but the effort was unsuccessful. Ground search efforts continue from the gorge to the bridge on Trail of the Cedars. The water in the gorge is unsearchable due to depth and turbulence, creating whitewater conditions.
Patil texted his mother two hours before the tragic incident, telling her that he would be returning to San Jose, where he worked with Cadence Design Systems, in another three days. His maternal uncle Pritesh Chaudhari told PTI that his friends got his iPhone IMEI numbers from the phone box in his room and gave them to the Park rangers in Montana and other authorities to help in the search work, without results.
Indian deaths in the US
After Patil went missing last month, several friends of his reached out to authorities in India to locate him. The Indian Consulate in Seattle said it was in touch with the office of Governor of Montana on this matter and following up on a regular basis and updating the family of the developments.
Maharashtra Deputy Minister also wrote to External Affairs Minister Jaishankar about Patil's disappearance, giving details about his friends and parents and urging him to take up the matter with the US government to investigate and expedite the search operation for the 26-year-old man from Jalgaon.
Earlier this month, an Indian student identified as Sai Surya Avinash Gadde, who was studying at Trine University, drowned at Barbervilley Falls in Albany on July 7, according to the Indian Consulate General in New York. The student was identified as Sai Surya Avinash Gadde.
This came after Guntipalli Sowmya, 25, a native of Telangana's Yadagirigutta and studying in Florida Atlantic University, was killed in a tragic road accident on May 26. She was killed by a speeding car while crossing the road in Florida. Media reports also claimed that she celebrated her 25th birthday on May 11. Prior to that, another Indian student, Belem Atchyuth from Andhra Pradesh, died in a bike accident in the US on May 23
Since the beginning of 2024, there have been at least a dozen deaths of Indian and Indian-origin students in the US. The alarming rise in the number of attacks has caused concern among the community.
(with inputs from PTI)
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