4 Indians burned alive in traffic accident in Texas

HOUSTON/HYDERABAD:

FOUR Indian nationals, including a woman, lost their lives and several others were injured in a tragic multi-vehicle road accident in the US state of Texas over the Labor Day weekend. According to the Collin County Sheriff's Office, the five-vehicle accident occurred on US 75 northbound just past White Street at Anna near Dallas. Confirming the identities, Indian Consul General in Houston DC Manjunath said the Consulate General of India (CGI) is in touch with the families and community organizations and is providing them full support at this tragic moment. According to preliminary reports, traffic on the highway was at a standstill and an SUV was among the vehicles that were stopped when the accident occurred on Friday afternoon. A truck traveling at high speed was unable to slow down and hit the rear of the SUV. The force of the impact was so great that the SUV caught fire and the four occupants inside were trapped, leading to their deaths. It took days for the victims to be officially identified as the bodies were charred beyond recognition. Several others suffered non-life-threatening injuries, but the exact number is unclear.

The victims were identified as Aryan Raghunath Orampatti of Kukatpally suburb in Hyderabad, his friend Farooq Sheikh, Lokesh Palacharla, another Telugu student, and Darshini Vasudev of Tamil Nadu. Orampatti and Sheikh were returning from visiting a cousin in Dallas, while Palacharla was on her way to Bentonville to meet his wife. Darshini Vasudev, a University of Texas graduate, was on her way to visit her uncle in Arkansas. The identification of the victims was delayed because of the long weekend and the need for DNA analysis from bone remains to confirm their identities. “Darshini's uncle Ramanujam lives in Bentonville, Arkansas. She wanted to visit him. Darshini had just completed her masters and started work in Frisco, Dallas,” Manjunath said.

“The other two, Umar Farooq Sheikh and Aryan Raghunath Orampatti, recently graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas. Sheikh will complete his MS in Business Analytics in spring 2023 and Orampatti will complete his MS in Finance in spring 2024. Lokesh, who was driving the car, was also working,” Manjunath added. Meanwhile, a friend of Aryan's father in Hyderabad on Wednesday said that four people, including Aryan and his friend Farooq, got into the car through a ride-sharing app. After learning about the accident from a US-based relative on Saturday, Aryan's parents had already left for the US, he told PTI. Aryan had travelled to the US to do his MS after completing his engineering degree and his parents attended his graduation ceremony in May, he said, adding that Aryan plans to work in the US for two years and then return to India.

Farooq's father Mastan Vali, who lives in Hyderabad, told PTI that he was informed on Saturday that a speeding truck had rammed the vehicle carrying his son and three other Indians, including Aryan, from behind. “Some friends of Farooq had informed my daughter, who lives in the US, about the accident. She informed me about it on Saturday. My daughter is contacting the authorities there,” Mastan Vali said, adding that they plan to repatriate Farooq's remains to Hyderabad. Farooq had left for the US from here in August 2021 and is now working after completing his master's degree there, his father said.