SAN JOSE (TIP): The hopes of finding the Thottapilly family alive have ended as the investigators on April 16 announced that they have found the bodies of all four members of the Indian American family that went missing while on a road trip to San Jose.

After a week of thorough search and rescue operation undertaken by the California Highway Patrol, the authorities found the Honda Pilot car that the family was traveling submerged in the Eel River. An eyewitness in Mendocino County had  reportedly seen  an SUV being swept away in Eel River.

According to the latest release from the Mendocino Sheriff, they found the SUV that met with the fatal accident submerged under Eel River, half a mile away from the location where they believe the car plunged into the river.

“Search divers entered the water and were able to feel what they believed to be a person inside of the vehicle. Visibility was extremely poor and divers noted the vehicle was encased in a large amount of sediment from the river current,” said the press statement from the Sheriff’s office.

“Recovery efforts continued for several hours and at approximately 6:30 PM the vehicle was partially removed from the Eel River by use of a tow truck. This provided searchers the ability to conduct a visual inspection of the inside of the vehicle. Searchers subsequently recovered the bodies of Sandeep Thottapilly and Saachi Thottapilly from inside the vehicle,” the press release added

The authorities had earlier found the body of Soumya Thottapilly, 7 miles away from the crash site.

On April 16, CNN reported that the body of the 12-year-old boy, Siddhant Thottapilly, was found in 6 miles away from where the rest of his family was found dead.

Sandeep Thottapilly (42), his wife, Soumya (38), and their two children Siddhant (12) and Saachi (9) had been missing since April 5. They had left for a road trip from Portland, Oregon, to San Jose, California, last month.