Indian student found dead in London river, relatives launch fundraiser

London: A 23-Indian student who went missing in the UK last month has been found dead in the river Thames here.

Mitkumar Patel arrived in the UK for higher studies in September and was reported missing on November 17.

The Metropolitan Police discovered his body in the river Thames near the Canary Wharf area of east London on November 21 and was declared dead by paramedics.

“The death is not believed to be suspicious,” the Met Police said.

Parth Patel, a relative, has since launched a Go Fund Me 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 fund raising 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 newspaper, 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.

After he failed to return from a daily walk to the home where he was staying in London, his relatives grew worried and reported him missing. They later found that he had left his set of keys behind.