The body of the last remaining member of the Indian family that went missing when their vehicle plunged into a swollen California river has been found. The remains of Siddhant Thottapilly, 12, was found by officials on Monday afternoon.
Four members of the Thottapilly family -- Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, Saachi Thottapilly, 9, Siddhant, and Soumya Thottapilly, 38, went missing more than a week ago while they were on a road trip.
The Thottapillys were traveling to a friend's home in San Jose on April 6 when the accident occurred. Shortly after 1 p.m., a maroon coloured vehicle matching the description of the one the family was driving was reported to be submerged in the river.
On Monday, authorities revealed that they have discovered the family's maroon Honda Pilot, which had plunged into the Eel River, near Leggett. Inside the vehicle were the bodies of Sandeep and his daughter, Saachi. Two days earlier, Soumya's body was pulled from the river and on Monday afternoon Siddhant's body was found in the river, about six miles north of the crash site.
Sandeep worked as a vice-president with the Union Bank and lived in Los Angeles with his family. He moved to the US 15 years ago.
Last week, the banker’s father, originally from Kerala and living in Gujarat for several years, had sought India’s external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj’s help to locate his son.
Babu Thottapilly had earlier tweeted, “Respected Sushma Swaraj ji, I am a senior citizen and resident of Surat, Gujarat. My son Sandeep Thottapilly is residing in California, USA. He and his family are reported missing since last Thursday.
“Would request your good office to take up this matter with concerned authorities in USA and help find my son and his family as soon as possible. requesting your kind cooperation.”
Along with the message, he posted a photograph of his son and his family.
“We have taken help of Facebook post to reach out to more and more people in California…,” he said.
India's aviation investigative unit said the probe was "progressing steadily" (PTI photo)