US: Four Indians charred to death in multiple car crash in Texas

The four Indians have been identified as Darshini Vasudevan from Tamil Nadu, Lokesh Palacharla, Aryan Raghunath Orampati from Hyderabad and Farooq Shaik

PGurus Newsdesk

September 4, 2024

The four Indians have been identified as Darshini Vasudevan from Tamil Nadu, Lokesh Palacharla, Aryan Raghunath Orampati from Hyderabad and Farooq Shaik

Four Indians, including a woman, die in fatal Texas multi-vehicle crash

In a tragic incident on Friday, four Indians, including a woman, lost their lives in a severe multi-vehicle collision in Texas. The victims, who had organized a carpool through an app, were en route to Bentonville, Arkansas when the fatal crash occurred.

The collision involved five vehicles and resulted in a fire engulfing the SUV the victims were traveling in. The intense blaze led to the charred remains of the victims, and authorities are now relying on DNA testing to confirm their identities.

The four Indians have been identified as Darshini Vasudevan from Tamil Nadu, Lokesh Palacharla, Aryan Raghunath Orampati from Hyderabad, and Farooq Shaik.

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 going to visit her uncle in Bentonville.

They connected through a carpooling app and this helped authorities identify them.

According to reports, a speeding truck rear-ended the SUV the victims were in. The car burst into flames and all the occupants burnt to death. The authorities are relying on DNA fingerprinting and teeth and bone remains to confirm the identities. “DNA fingerprinting will be done to identify the bodies, and the samples will be matched with the parents,” a local authority said.

Darshini Vasudevan’s father had tagged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a Twitter post three days back and sought help in locating his daughter.

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.

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.”

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