The body of Dinu Alex was retrieved from the Meenachil river

The body of Dinu Alex, the Lionel Messi fan who left his house after Argentina’s defeat to Croatia in the FIFA World Cup on Thursday night, was retrieved from the Meenachil river on Sunday morning.

Locals found the body lying among the water hyacinth that had collected at the Illickel bridge nearly 20 km down the river from his house at Ayarkunnam by 8:30 a.m.

According to police, his relatives identified the body on the basis of the gold chain he was wearing.

Police teams from Ayarkunnam and Kottayam (West) which had arrived at Illickel, completed the formalities and moved the body for post-mortem to Kottayam Government Medical College.

Alex had left a suicide note at his residence when he left on Thursday night. Fire and rescue force and local people had been searching for the body for the past two days.

Those in distress or having suicidal tendencies could seek help and counselling by calling Maithri 's helpline at 04842540530