Officials locate body of man whose canoe overturned

TAYLORSVILLE, Ind. (WISH) — Conservation officers and firefighters found the body of a man Sunday whose canoe capsized.

Corporal Jet Quillen with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources said that witnesses told officers a man went underwater and did not come back up to the surface after his canoe flipped in the Driftwood River near Taylorsville around 4 p.m. Saturday.

The man has been identified as 27-year-old Siddharth Panicker. He was found just before 11 a.m. in the Driftwood River near where he was last seen. 

The Driftwood River flows from the confluence of the Big Blue River and Sugar Creek to the East Fork of the White River in Columbus, according to the DNR’s website. 

DNR had boats in the water on Saturday searching for the man. The speed and level of water in the river was a concern for divers, so boat-based and sonar searches were being used, Quillen said. 

Bartholomew County water rescue and Franklin Fire Department were assisting in the search.