By Lev D. Zilbermints
SOUTH ORANGE / KEARNY – In what turned out to be a sad ending to a desperate search, the bodies of two missing students were found September 10 in the Passaic River, the state medical examiner said.
Seton Hall freshman Nidhi Rana and Montclair State University student Ayush Rana were swept away by floodwaters on September 1 in Passaic. Post-tropical cyclone Ida, which weakened from a hurricane upon hitting land, was responsible for bringing the floodwaters to New Jersey.
ABC 7 News reported that rescuers looking for the two missing students found a woman’s body near Kearny on September 8. According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, a man’s body was discovered near Milepost 5 on Route 21, on September 9.
Passaic Mayor Hector Lora told NJ Advance Media that the second body was pulled from the water in Newark, near the Kearny border.
According to Seton Hall University President Joseph E. Nyre, Nidhi Rana was a commuter student who participated in the Division of Volunteer Efforts (DOVE). The president announced the discovery of Rana’s body to the SHU community in an email, the Setonian student newspaper said.
“We mourn the tragic loss of a life so young and promising. Someone who loved her new home of Seton Hall and was loved by the University in return, “President Nyre wrote in his email.
A search for Ayush Rana on the website of Montclarion, the student newspaper, found no articles.
According to NJ Advance Media, Governor Phil Murphy said that the death toll from Post-Tropical Cyclone Ida has climbed to 30 people statewide.
