Arizona: Two Indian students in the United States were killed in a head-on traffic collision near Lake Pleasant in Arizona, according to police. The students have been identified as Nivesh Mukka, 19, and Goutham Parsi, 19, both enrolled as international students at Arizona State University and hailing from Telangana.
According to the Peoria Police, officers responded to a report of a collision around 6:18 pm on April 20 on Castle Hot Springs Road, just north of State Route 74. The multiple-vehicle collision involved two vehicles -- a white 2024 Kia Forte and a red 2022 Ford F150 -- that had collided head-on.
According to a preliminary probe, the driver of one vehicle was travelling southbound on Castle Hot Springs Road 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.
The other car’s driver, the sole occupant of the vehicle, was also taken to a local hospital with serious injuries and has been released, the statement said. The area was closed for several hours during the investigation but was reopened for normal traffic Sunday morning. "The cause of this collision is still being investigated," the police said.
"Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everybody who rendered aid during this tragic incident,” the Peoria Police Department said. Meanwhile, Arizona State University said the International Students and Scholars Centre is working with the dean of students, counselling services and housing representatives to identify the student groups, friends and roommates of the victims so that they can offer any needed support.
Indian deaths in the US
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.
Most recently, Mohammed Abdul Arfath, who had been missing in the US since the beginning of the month, was found dead in Cleveland, Ohio. The Indian embassy in New York confirmed the news of his tragic death on X and assured the family members that it would coordinate with local agencies to secure a thorough investigation into Arfath’s death.
Although it did not mention any words about his parents in Hyderabad getting ransom calls, multiple media reported that the family members received a call from unidentified men who demanded a ransom of $1,200 which is roughly one lakh in Indian currency. Last month, a 34-year-old trained classical dancer from India, Amarnath Ghosh, was shot dead in St Louis, Missouri. Sameer Kamath, a 23-year-old Indian-American student at Purdue University, was found dead in a nature preserve in Indiana on February 5.
The series of attacks on Indians and Indian origin persons and students had prompted the officials of the Indian Embassy in Washington and its consulates at various places to hold a virtual interaction with Indian students from across the US, discussing various aspects of student well-being and ways to stay connected with the larger diaspora.
(with inputs from agencies)
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