Four Indians including woman killed in collision of vehicles in Texas

WASHINGTON: Four Indians including a woman have, died in an accident involving five vehicles in Texas, USA. All four were traveling through a carpooling app. The tragedy him them when they were on their way to Bentonville in Arkansas. The SUV they were traveling in caught fire and the bodies of the four were charred. They were identified through a DNA test.

The dead has been identified as Aryan Raghunath Orampati, Farooq Shaik, Lokesh Palacharla and Darshini Vasudevan. Orampati and his friend Shaik were returning after visiting his cousin in Dallas. Lokesh Palacharla was on his way to visit his wife living in Bentonville. Darshini Vasudevan, who finished her Master’s from the University of Texas and was working in the US, was visiting her uncle in Bentonville. She was a native of Tamil Nadu. She lived in Frisco, Texas.

They were identified quickly as they connected through a carpooling app. However, the authorities were relying on the DNA fingerprinting and teeth and bone remains to confirm the identities. Darshini’s father tagged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in a twitter post three days back seeking help to find his daughter.

‘Dear Sir, my daughter Darshini Vasudevan with Indian passport number - T6215559 is living in Texas for the last three years. She is working there for one year after two years of MS studies. Yesterday evening she was traveling by carpooling. She was texting from around 3 pm to 4 pm. He had called her later, then there was no news,’ he said in the post.

Aryan Raghunath Orampati is the son of Subhash Chandra Reddy, the owner of a Hyderabad-based firm called Max Agri Genetics Private Limited. Aryan completed his engineering degree from Amrita Vishwavidyapeeth in Coimbatore. He recently completed his master's degree from the University of Texas. Aryan's parents had attended his convocation. His son told him that he would return home after working in the US for two more years. This was his destiny, said Aryan's father.

Farooq Sheikh is a native of Hyderabad.

A speeding truck rear-ended the SUV the victims were in. The car burst into flames and all the four were burnt to death.