Glacier National Park rangers believe they have found the body of a man who drowned over the Fourth of July weekend, park officials said.
Siddhant Vitthal Patil, 26, fell into Avalanche Creek on July 6, but the creek was flowing too fast to recover his body.
A visitor spotted a body in the creek Saturday morning and rangers recovered it, park officials said. Clothing and gear similar to what Patil said his friends were wearing were also found. The body was taken to the Flathead County coroner’s office to be identified using DNA or dental records.
Patil, originally from India, was hiking with friends above a gorge on the Avalanche Lake Trail when he fell into the creek. It’s unclear whether he slipped on a wet rock or lost his balance, park officials said.
According to HikingInGlacier.com, Avalanche Creek offers visitors “a close-up view of the incredible power of glacial meltwater as it rushes through the narrow gorge.”
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Patil, who lived and worked in California, was one of two men who drowned while vacationing at the park on July 6.
Raju Jha, a 28-year-old Nepalese, drowned in Lake McDonald. He was an inexperienced swimmer. His body was found later in the day, 10 to 12 meters deep, park officials said.
Jha lived in Portland, Oregon.
At least seven people, including Patil and Jha, have died in the park in the past two years.
In June, a Pittsburgh-area woman drowned in Glacier National Park, CBS Pittsburgh reported. The woman, identified as 26, Gillian Tones from Armstrong County, died after falling into the water near St. Mary Falls.
Last year, a 28-year-old man Kansas woman dies after falling into the park’s Avalanche Creek and being swept into a gorge.
In 2022, three people died in one week At the park.
Located in northwest Montana and home to over 700 miles of trails, Glacier National Park is filled with melting glaciers, valleys and lakes. It covers over 1,400 square miles and includes 175 mountains.
