South Carolina: Three Indian women in Gujarat were killed and one person was injured in a horrific car accident in South Carolina's Greenville County, after the overspeeding SUV they were travelling in veered across all lanes, ran up an embankment and rose as much as 20 feet in the air before crashing into some trees on the other side.
The three women who died in the crash were identified as Rekhaben Patel, Sangitaben Patel, and Manishaben Patel, all residents of Gujarat's Anand district. Chief Deputy Coroner Mike Ellis said the vehicle was found in pieces after the crash. "It is obvious they were travelling above the posted speed limit," he told news outlet WSPA.
The vehicle was travelling north on Interstate 85 when it ran off the road and jumped over four lanes of traffic. The coroner’s office is investigating with other agencies to find out how fast the car might have been going. South Carolina Highway Patrol, Gannt Fire and Rescue and multiple Greenville County EMS units all responded to the scene.
"Very seldom do you see a vehicle that leaves the roadway at such a high rate of speed that it jumps 4-6 lanes of traffic and lands in the trees approximately 20 feet. When you got family, probably related, three deceased it is nothing that you want to ever see," Ellis further said. There has been no official confirmation of what caused the crash.
According to Fox News, the driver of the vehicle was taken to the hospital with injuries, but their current condition is unknown. Ellis said the victims are from Georgia.
Two Indian students from Telangana killed in Arizona car crash
This incident came days after two Indian students hailing from Telangana and studying in the US were killed in a head-on collision in Arizona. The students have been identified as Nivesh Mukka, 19, and Goutham Parsi, 19, both enrolled as international students at Arizona State University.
According to a preliminary probe, the driver of one vehicle was travelling southbound on Castle Hot Springs Road on April 20 while the other was travelling northbound. Mukka and Parsi “died from their injuries on (the) scene”, while the driver of the car in which they were travelling was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries and has since been released.
While Nivesh hailed from Huzurabad town in Karimnagar district, Goutham Kumar was from Station Ghanpur in Jangaon district. Both were pursuing computer science engineering at the university. Both of them were returning home along with their friends from the university. The car coming from the opposite end rammed into their vehicle, resulting in their deaths on the spot. Drivers of both cars sustained injuries.
Nivesh is the son of doctor couple Naveen and Swathi. The families of the two students have appealed to the Narendra Modi government to help in bringing the bodies home.
It is worth mentioning the latest report of killing came in a series of deaths and attacks on Indian students in the United States. In 2024 alone, at least eleven students were killed and several others faced severe attacks. Although the Indian government, on multiple occasions, asserted they were raising concerns with their counterparts, the killing spree has not stopped yet.
(with inputs from agencies)
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