Missing family found dead in Eel River

SANTA CLARITA, CA — In a tragic turn of events, the bodies of a missing Southern California Indian American family have been found and identified by a multi-agency search and rescue team.

The family’s maroon Honda Pilot had plunged into the Eel River near Leggett, California as they returned home from a spring break vacation in Oregon.

Sandeep Thottapilly, 41, and his nine-year-old daughter Saachi were found inside the submerged vehicle on April 15. Two days earlier, the body of Soumya Somanath Thottapilly, 38, was found seven miles north of where the crash occurred.

A day later, search and rescue teams found the submerged body of the Thottapillys’ son Siddhant, 12, about six miles downstream of where the crash occurred.

The California Highway Patrol reported on April 6 that a witness had seen a vehicle go over the side of a steep embankment on US-101, south of Dora Creek in Northern Mendocino County.

According to Captain Gregory van Patten, of the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office, the car was fully submerged in water, including the interior of the car. “It’s not uncommon for the interior of a car to fill with water when submerged,” he told reporters.

The Thottapillys’ vehicle was completely submerged under heavy water, said Bartley, noting that intense rains had soaked the river, which was moving very swiftly.

Seventy members of a search and rescue team had conducted operations over the past week since the Thottapillys went missing. The search consisted of 21 water searchers, which included two jet-ski teams, two boat teams and several Kayak/Carlson board teams, according to a press statement from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office.

The Thottapillys last made contact on April 5 with family members in San Jose, Calif., to let them know they would visit the following day on their way back to their home in Santa Clarita, California.