US: Four Indians die in massive car crash in Texas

Four Indians - three men and a woman – died in a massive car crash involving five vehicles in Texas, US, on Friday (August 30) when a speeding truck rear-ended the SUV the victims were in. The car burst into flames and the four occupants died in the fire.

At least three other people were injured in the accident and were taken to a hospital for treatment.

The four victims

The four victims were Aryan Raghunath Orampati and Farooq Shaik from Hyderabad, Lokesh Palacharla, and Darshini Vasudevan from Tamil Nadu. The four of them connected through a carpooling app and this helped the police to identify them. They were travelling to Bentonville in Arkansas.

Aryan and his friend Farooq were returning after visiting his cousin in Dallas, Lokesh was on his way to Bentonville to meet his wife, and Darshini was going to meet her uncle in Bentonville.

Aryan had done his engineering from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore, and went to the US for his post graduate studies. His father owns a company in Hyderabad. His parents had attended his convocation at the University of Texas in May this year. Aryan planned to work in the US for a couple of years and then return to India.

Farooq travelled to the US three years ago to do an MS degree, which he completed recently. His sister is also in the US. Their father is retired, and their family lives in BHEL, Hyderabad.

Darshini, a resident of Frisco, Texas, was in the US for 3 years, according to her father. She spent two years completing her MS degree from the University of Texas, and was working for the past one year.

Darshini’s dad seeks Jaishankar’s help

Darshini’s father had posted a message on X four days ago, tagging External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, seeking help in locating his daughter. He wrote that his daughter was carpooling with three others the previous evening, and she was messaging her family from 3 pm to 4 pm. After 4 pm, they were unable to contact Darshini or the others who were travelling with her in the car.

A local official in Anna, Texas, where the accident occurred, said they were relying on DNA fingerprinting and teeth and bone remains from the charred bodies of the victims to match the samples with those of their parents in order to confirm the identities of the victims.