2 Hyderabad youths among 4 Indian students killed in Texas multi-vehicle crash

The victims had connected through a carpooling app and were travelling in an SUV

Hyderabad: Four Indian students, including two from the city, were killed in a multi-vehicle crash in Texas, United States, on Friday afternoon.

The victims have been identified as Aryan Raghunath Orampati from Kukatpally, Farooq Sheikh from BHEL, and Lokesh Palacharla and Darshini Vasudevan from Tamil Nadu.

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The four were travelling to Bentonville when the accident occurred. They had connected through a carpooling app for their journey.

The collision occurred just past White Street at around 3.30 pm on Friday.

According to reports, Aryan and Shaik, who reside in Bentonville, were returning home after visiting the former’s relative in Dallas.

Lokesh Palacharla was on way to visit his wife and Darshini Vasudevan, who was pursuing a Master’s course from the University of Texas at Arlington, was on her way to visit her uncle in Bentonville.

The collision, involving approximately five vehicles, occurred when a truck, reportedly speeding, failed to slow down and rear-ended the SUV in which the victims were travelling in.

Witnesses informed police that the impact was so severe that the SUV burst into flames, leaving all occupants trapped inside and unable to escape.

The same was corroborated through the footage of surveillance cameras installed along the road.

“Due to the intensity of the fire, the bodies were charred beyond recognition, making identification challenging. DNA fingerprinting will be done to identify the bodies and the samples will be matched with the parents,” the local authorities said.

The families have appealed to the Centre to help them travel to the United States to complete the formalities and get back the bodies.

Aryan’s father Subhash Chandra Reddy and family live in Kukatpally, Hyderabad. They hail from Rayachoti, but have settled in Nizampet, Hyderabad.

Aryan completed his engineering degree from Amrita Vishwa.

Shaik was from Hyderabad too and lived in Bentonville. He went to the US three years ago to complete his MS degree. He completed his course recently.