On August 30, a major road accident in Texas claimed the lives of four Indians, including three Telugu-speaking individuals.
The victims died when their SUV was rear-ended by a speeding truck on Highway 75 in Anna, Texas, causing the vehicle to burst into flames.
The deceased have been identified as Aryan Raghunath Orampati from Hyderabad, Farooq Shaik, Aryan's friend, Lokesh Palacharla, another Telugu speaker, and Darshini Vasudevan from Tamil Nadu. The accident occurred around 3:30 p.m.
The impact was so severe that the vehicle was engulfed in flames, trapping the victims inside and leading to their deaths.
According to Texas media reports, the four individuals had connected via a carpooling app and were heading to Bentonville.
Aryan and Farooq, both residents of Bentonville, were returning from a trip to Dallas, where they had visited Aryan's cousins.
Lokesh Palacharla was traveling to Bentonville to meet his wife, while Darshini Vasudevan was on her way to visit her uncle.
The intense fire following the accident made it difficult to identify the victims, with authorities relying on details from the carpooling app to confirm their identities.
Local reports also indicated that traffic on Highway 75 had slowed significantly, bringing vehicles to a near standstill. The speeding truck failed to react to the congestion, resulting in the fatal crash.
This incident has sent shockwaves through the Indian diaspora in the United States, as several Indians have died in vehicular accidents in recent months.
Just recently, three members of an Indian-origin family were killed in a car accident in Houston, Texas.
On May 14, three Indian students lost their lives in a major car crash in Alpharetta, Georgia.
