Canadian officials find dead body near river, suspected to be of missing Indian student

Canadian police have found a body which they believe is of a 20-year-old Indian student from Gujarat who went missing last week, according to media reports.

The body was found near the Assiniboine River and the Highway 110 bridge, just east of Brandon City in the Manitoba province on Sunday evening.

Family members of Vishay Patel reported him missing to Brandon police Saturday morning, CBC News reported on Monday.

Members of Patels family who were searching the area found clothing near the Assiniboine River and Highway 110 bridge Sunday evening. Emergency service workers searched the area and found a deceased man, the report said.

“A body has been found near the Assiniboine River and the team believes it to be of Vishay Patel, a student at the Assiniboine community college who was reported missing since Friday morning,” a senior officer from the police team was quoted as saying by The Brandon Sun newspaper on Monday.

Patel was caught on home video surveillance leaving his residence in a grey Honda Civic car, the report said, adding that the authorities have not confirmed the identity of the individual as yet.

An eyewitness told police that they possibly saw Patel walking towards the Riverbank Discovery Centre grounds.

By early Saturday afternoon, the authorities had told the public through social media that they should avoid the riverbank area due to an ongoing search and rescue operation.

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said that authorities will be continuing the investigation, although there are no signs of foul play at this time.

Talking to the newspaper on Monday, a family friend said that Patel had been attending Assiniboine Community College as an international student for the last couple of years.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)