The body of a missing 21-year-old Indian student in Australia was found on Monday in Victoria’s Marysville region, according to the police.
A university student in Melbourne, Poshik Sharma, was reported missing on Friday morning after going from his friends at the Duck Inn on Thursday afternoon.
The body was recovered in bush land on the outskirts of Marysville on Monday, four days after Sharma left a Marysville pub unaccompanied following a “minor disagreement” with friends, the police was quoted as saying by the Age.
A search operation involving over 90 people from Victoria Police, the State Emergency Service, Country Fire Authority and specialist teams worked in and around the town of Marysville during the weekend to trace Sharma. The police also emptied a local dam in search of him.
Search and rescue crews drained a dam, while police dogs used one of Sharma’s socks to try and track his scent on Sunday, the report said.
Police Inspector David Ryan, who was heading the police search, said it was “devastating for the family”.
“They were very hopeful that with the effort that was going in that we would find Poshik and it’s not a good outcome,” he said. “Our search operations have been closed down and unfortunately Poshik Sharma has been found deceased just on the outskirts of Marysville,” Ryan said.
“We’ve finally made notifications to Sharma’s family, so they’ve now got care around them and people with them to support them.”
“It’s not something we expected to have happened and it is devastating for the family. They were obviously very upset.”
Sharma was living in the suburb of Werribee in Melbourne’s west and had gone to Marysville with friends on the way to nearby Lake Mountain. On Thursday at the Duck Inn pub, the group had drinks and played pool during when they had a “minor disagreement”, according to police.
“We understand there was a dispute between them and he decided to leave,” Ryan said. “The dispute was not significant enough to warrant him walking into the bush and not coming back,” he added.
As the temperatures dropped below zero and snow fell at nearby Lake Mountain, search crews had faced difficulties over the weekend.
Sharma was last seen trying to hitch hike a car opposite the inn. The police fore will prepare a report for the Coroner.
