UK: Indian Student, 23, Found Dead in Thames River; Family Launches Fundraiser

An Indian student who went missing in the UK last month has been found dead in the river Thames here. 23-year-old Mitkumar Patel arrived in the country for higher studies in September and was reported missing on November 17.

His body was discovered by the Metropolitan Police in the river Thames near the Canary Wharf area of east London on November 21. The death is not believed to be suspicious, the Met Police said. Parth Patel, a relative, has since launched a GoFundMe online fundraiser and raised over GBP 4,500 since last week.

“Mitkumar Patel was a 23-year-old boy who came to the UK for higher studies on 19th September 2023,” reads the fundraising appeal. 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. The student was due to move to Sheffield on November 20 to start a degree at Sheffield Hallam University and a part-time job at Amazon, UK’s Evening Standard newspaper reported. Worries heightened as he did not return from his daily walk to the London residence, prompting relatives to report him missing.

(With agency inputs)