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Indian techie who drowned in US texted mother hours before death, says family
Indian techie Siddhant Patil, who is presumed dead from drowning in the US, texted his mother hours before the incident, according to his uncle
Indian techie, Siddhant Vitthal Patil, texted his mother hours before he drowned in Glacier National Park in the United States, according to his uncle.
On Friday, Pritesh Chaudhari, Siddhant's maternal uncle, told news agency PTI, “Last Friday, Siddhant called up his mother Priti from the Park and told her that he has been in the Park for three days with six other Indian friends and is enjoying the trip.”
26-year-old Siddhant worked at Cadence Design Systems in San Jose since 2023. He had gone to the US in 2020 for an MSc from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
According to Chaudhari, who resides in Pune, Siddhant had texted his mother two hours before his presumed death, stating that he would return to San Jose in three days.
His friends got his iPhone's International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) numbers and gave it to park rangers in Montana and other authorities to help search for him, but there have been no results yet, Chaudhari said.
Helicopters are conducting aerial searches for his body and officials suspect that the body is being held down by submerged obstacles like trees or rocks. His personal items are slowly being recovered by rangers, as they wash downstream. However, his body has not been located yet even after using a drone to find it.
Siddhant's father Vitthal, a recently retired government official from Maharashtra's irrigation department, and his mother Priti are not able to speak about the situation due to shock.
Chaudhari said,"Suresh Sharma from the Indian consulate in Seattle called me after the incident as he had given my number as a contact to the US authorities. I have been in touch with the consulate since Monday."
Sharad Pawar, Devendra Fadnavis and other leaders from Maharashtra have written to the government seeking its help, Chaudhari said. Further, Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol, who is from Pune, has been in touch with External Affairs Minister Jaishankar regarding the search operation.
