Mitkumar Patel, an Indian student who went missing in the UK in mid-November was found dead in the river Thames in London recently. Patel was declared dead by paramedics and the Met Police said, “the death is not believed to be suspicious.”
A family relative of Patel started a GoFundMe campaign to help repatriate his body back to India to help his immediate and extended family say their final goodbyes. “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,” the fundraiser reads.
“He was missing from 17th November 2023. Now on 21st November police found his dead body from canary wharf in the water. It was sad for all of us. So, we decided do fundraising for helping out his family and to send his body to India as well,” the appeal said, further reinforcing that the money would be safely sent to Patel’s family in India. At the time of this writing, the campaign had garnered £5,125 ($6,508) from 255 donations. The goal is set for £10,000 (US $12,698).
As per an Evening Standard report, Patel had been living in an east London town with his cousin after arriving in the UK in September. He was about to move to Sheffield on November 20 to start pursuing a degree at Sheffield Hallam University and a part-time job with an e-commerce company.
On November 17, Patel left for his daily walk and did not return. His cousin filed a missing report with the police the following day. Patel’s cousins started distributing posters and flyers in the areas he frequented and contacted missing persons charities. However, he was nowhere to be found. Patel’s cousin Parth Patel said the former had sent a series of voice messages to a relative, outlining a plan to end his own life. The messages were discovered after he went missing.
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