A speeding truck rear-ended the SUV the victims were in. The car burst into flames.
New York: Four Indians, including a woman, have died in a massive crash involving five vehicles in Texas. The victims had connected through a carpooling app and were on their way to Bentonville in Arkansas on Friday when the tragedy struck. The crash led to a fire in the SUV they were in, and their bodies were charred. Authorities are relying on DNA testing to confirm their identities.
The victims are Aryan Raghunath Orampati, Farooq Shaik, Lokesh Palacharla, and Dharshini Vasudevan. Orampati and his friend Shaik were returning after visiting his cousin in Dallas. Lokesh Palacharla was traveling to Bentonville to meet his wife. Dharshini Vasudevan, who had finished her Master's from the University of Texas and had been working in the US, was on her way to visit her uncle in Bentonville. They connected through a carpooling app and this helped authorities identify them.
Orampati's father Subhash Chandra Reddy owns a Hyderabad-based firm named Max Agri Genetics Private Limited. Aryan completed his engineering degree at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in Coimbatore. "His parents were in the US in May for his convocation at the University of Texas. After the convocation, they asked him to return to India, but he said he wanted to work in the US for two more years. Fate has struck like this," said a relative.
Orampati's friend Shaik, too, was from Hyderabad and lived in Bentonville. Darshini, from Tamil Nadu, was living in Frisco, Texas.
Farooq Shaik's father Masthan Vali said he went to the US three years back. "He went to the US to complete his MS degree. He finished it recently." Mr Vali is a retired private employee and the family lives in BHEL Hyderabad. "My daughter also lives in the US and is handling the situation."
