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Family of collision victim Priyanka Mittal want body flown home to India

A relative of the woman who was struck and killed while crossing West Hunt Club Road Friday night says her family is in "great shock," and wants help to bring her body home to India.

Rajeev Goel said his 22-year-old niece Priyanka Mittal had just moved to Ottawa from India at the end of August to study at Carleton University.

He said in a phone interview from the city of Panchkula in northern India on Sunday that police called Mittal's brother, who is also studying in Canada, to tell him the news.

"Her family is in really great shock. Her father, mother are really inconsolable," he said.

"They're [reminded of] Priyanka again and again because they had sent her for her studies and they had so many aspirations, so many for her career. All of a sudden this has all happened, it's really very sad."

Police investigating collision

Emergency crews responded to reports that a pedestrian had been struck by a vehicle at the intersection of West Hunt Club Road and Sunderland Street in an industrial part of south Ottawa just after 9 p.m. Friday night.

Paramedics said the female victim had no pulse when they arrived and could not be revived. They initially told CBC News she was 26, but family later confirmed Mittal was 22.

Police had said Saturday morning they were looking for the driver of a white car they suspected was involved. They later said the driver had come to talk to them.

The investigation is ongoing and no charges have been laid, police said Monday.

Her uncle said Mittal had just started working at a restaurant and was trying to cross the road to catch up with a friend when she was struck.

Parents want daughter cremated in India

Goel said the family has reached out to the Indian and Canadian governments for help to bring her body home.

"We just want to know the procedure, how fast we can bring the body back here… her father and mother's wish is that the body should be cremated here in India," he said.

He said the family is planning to go to the Canadian consulate in Chandigarh Monday to seek help.