- An Indian student went missing near UC Berkeley on February 9, prompting a search
- Saketh Sreenivasaiah's backpack with passport and laptop was found near Tilden Park
- Search efforts focus on Lake Anza and Berkeley Hills, involving community and classmates
An Indian student has been reported missing in California, prompting a citywide search that has entered its fifth day on Saturday.
22-year-old Saketh Sreenivasaiah, a student from Karnataka pursuing Chemical and Biomolecular engineering at University of California Berkeley, went missing on February 9. Authorities say he was last seen around a kilometre away from the campus.
Later, a backpack, containing Sreenivasaiah's pasport and laptop, was found near a residence close to Tilden Regional Park, also near the campus. A citywide search was launched, with a focus on Lake Anza and the surrounding Berkeley Hills areas.
The Indian Consulate in San Francisco expressed concern about the missing student and said that it is in touch with his family and the local authorities.
Sreenivasaiah, an IIT Madras alumnus, was pursuing a master's degree at Berkeley. He went to school at Bengaluru's Sri Vani Education Centre. He is described as six feet one inches tall, weighing about 160 pounds, with short black hair and brown eyes.
Sreenivasaiah, along with five others, holds a patent for inventing a "microchannel cooling system for hyperloop and a method thereof", per his LinkedIn profile.
On the profile, he has been described in two recommendations as a person with a quick wit, humility, brilliance and loyalty. Another person said his "approach to challenges was really impressive" and he found innovative solutions through thorough research.
Community members mobilised online to aid the search for Sreenivasaiah, with a Reddit thread discussing concerted efforts to locate him. On the thread, a person said a "huge" search team is at Lake Anza with boats, while another volunteered to go on a search mission with his dogs in the morning.
In a question raised by MP Asaduddin Owaisi in the Lok Sabha about student safety abroad, the Ministry of External Affairs highlighted its efforts towards keeping Indian students safe. "Indian Missions/Posts also take steps to maintain regular contact with Indian students enrolled in foreign universities in their jurisdictions and conduct pre-orientation sessions with them upon their arrival in foreign lands to brief them on potential challenges, risks, and precautions to be taken while studying overseas, including issue of advisories from time to time," the statement read.
