An Indian student who went missing last month was found dead in the River Thames in London, United Kingdom. The student, identified as 23-year-old Mitkumar Patel, arrived in the UK for higher studies in September and was reported missing on November 17. According to a PTI report, Patel had failed to return from his daily walk to the home where he was staying in London, which raised concern among his relatives who then reported him missing. They noticed that Patel had left his set of keys behind.
The report added that Patel was supposed to move to Sheffield on November 20 to start a degree at Sheffield Hallam University and a part-time job at Amazon. Mitkumar’s frantic relatives began contacting missing persons charities and canvassing areas he frequented with posters and flyers, as reported by The Evening Standard news outlet.
The Metropolitan Police discovered his body in the River Thames near the Canary Wharf area of East London on November 21, and he was declared dead by paramedics.
“The death is not believed to be suspicious,” the Met Police was quoted as saying by The Evening Standard.
A relative of Mitkumar set up a 'GoFundMe' fundraiser and has raised over GBP 4,500 since last week.
The page reads: “Mitkumar Patel was a 23-year (old) boy who came to the UK for higher studies on 19th September 2023".
“He belonged to a farmer family and used to live in a village as well. He was missing from November 17, 2023. Now on November 21 police found his dead body from Canary Wharf in the water. It was sad for all of us. So, we decided to do fundraising for helping out his family and to send his body to India as well,” it adds.
The appeal reiterates that the funds will be safely transmitted to Mitkumar’s family in India. According to The Evening Standard, his cousins are also raising money to repatriate his remains to India, where he will be laid to rest.
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