iNDICA News Service-
Two engineering students from Telangana, India, were killed and three of their friends injured in a road accident in Illinois Thursday.
Pavan Swarna (23), of Khammam district, and Vamshi Krishna Pechetty (23), of Bachupally in Medchal Malkajgiri district, were killed in a head-on collision involving two cars on Illinois Route 3 in Union County April 21.
Pavan was at the wheel of the vehicle in which the two friends were travelling with three others, all students at Southern Illinois University (SIU) Carbondale. The other three, Kalyan Dorna, Karthik Kakumanu and Yashwanth Uppalapati, were injured in the accident.
Marie A Meunier, an American citizen who was driving the other car, was also killed on the spot.
Pavan and Vamshi were pursuing their master’s degree in computer science at SIU. An SIU release quoted the Illinois state police as saying Meunier was heading south on Route 3 when her car crossed the center line and collided head-on with Pavan and Vamshi’s car heading north.
According to information reaching the families of the students, the accident took place when a group of 10 students in two cars was returning from a shopping trip.
Vamshi, second son of bank officer Varaprasad and JNTU professor Padmaja Rani, had gone to the U.S. only five months ago after completing his BTech. His elder brother Shashi Krishna has been living in the U.S. for the past seven years.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan Sunday condoled the death of the two students and directed Raj Bhavan officials to render all possible assistance to the families in bringing back the bodies and providing medical assistance to the injured students.
