MISSOURI (TIP): Two Indian-origin students from Telangana drowned in the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri over the Thanksgiving weekend even as one student was trying to save the other.
The victims were identified as Uthej Kunta (24) and Shiva Kelligari (25) by the Missouri State Highway Patrol, according to local media reports.
Troopers received a call around 2:40 pm Saturday requesting assistance to find two people last seen in the water at the .5-mile mark of the main channel near the Bagnel Dam, the media reported.
The drownings occurred when Kelligari began to struggle in the water, went under, and did not come back up. Kunta dove into the water to rescue Kelligari and did not come back up. The body of the first man was recovered by rescue crews and pronounced dead two hours after the incident on Saturday. Crews couldn’t recover the second body until 9 am Sunday morning.
Bradley Kinkade manages the Airbnb the men were staying in. He says he called 911 after hearing cries for help.
” I grabbed my phone called 911 and my daughter also grabbed hers and called 911,” said Kinkade. “My brother jumped in the water tried to save him but by the time he got to the kayak, they were already gone.”
Both men had come to the US from Telangana, India, to pursue a graduate degree in data science at the University of St Louis. “We mourn with Uthej and Shiva’s friends and loved ones, their classmates and professors, the staff members who supported their journeys here at SLU, and all those who grieve,” SLU officials wrote in an email to students. Meanwhile, Telangana minister K T Rama Rao in a tweet said that he has asked his team to assist the victims’ families in getting the bodies back as soon as possible. “I have already asked my team @KTRoffice to assist the family in getting the mortal remains back asap,” he tweeted.