Indian, Who Drowned In US National Park, Texted Mother Hours Before Incident

Indian techie Siddhant Vitthal Patil, who is presumed dead after drowning in the Glacier National Park in the United States, had texted his mother from the park hours before the tragedy, his family said on Friday.

"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," his maternal uncle Pritesh Chaudhari told PTI.

Chaudhari, who is based in Pune, said Siddhant (26) also texted his mother two hours before the tragic incident, telling her that he would be returning to San Jose, where he worked with Cadence Design Systems, in another three days.

His friends got his iPhone IMEI numbers from the phone box in his room and gave it to the Park rangers in Montana and other authorities to help in the search work, Chaudhari said. This hasn't yielded results yet, he added.

Both Priti and Siddhant's father Vitthal, who retired from Maharashtra government's irrigation department in May, are in a shock and not in a position to speak, 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," Chaudhari said.

"I have been in touch with the consulate since Monday," he said.

Leaders from Maharashtra, including Sharad Pawar and Devendra Fadnavis have written to the government seeking its help, he said. Union minister Murlidhar Mohol, who hails from Pune, is in touch with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar for updates on the search operation, he added.

"Siddhant went to the US in 2020 to do his MS from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He joined Cadence in 2023," Chaudhari said.

Siddhant's body is yet to be located despite helicopters conducting aerial searches, but officials suspected that the body was being held down by submerged obstacles like fallen trees and rocks. He is presumed dead by authorities.

Rangers are continuously monitoring the area and are starting to recover personal items that have washed downstream.

Rangers flew a drone to try and determine the location of the body, but the effort was unsuccessful.

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