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2 SIU graduate students, 1 Cape Girardeau woman die in Rte. 3 crash north of Union-Alexander County line; 3 other students injured

2 SIU graduate students, 1 Cape Girardeau woman die in Rte. 3 crash north of Union-Alexander County line; 3 other students injured

UNION COUNTY, Sick. (KFVS) – Two Southern Illinois University graduate pupils and a Cape Girardeau girl died in an early early morning crash on Route 3.

SIU Carbondale Chancellor Austin A. Lane issued the subsequent statement on Thursday afternoon:

“We are heartbroken to find out of a tragic car incident that has taken the lives of two associates of the Saluki relatives and hurt three many others. We send our condolences to the households of Vamshi Krishna Pechetty, a graduate pupil in laptop science, and Pavan Swarna, a graduate scholar in personal computer science, and we hope Kalyan Dorna, a graduate university student in civil engineering, Karthik Kakumanu, a graduate pupil in pc science, and Yaswanth Uppalapati, a graduate college student in laptop or computer science, will heal. We are doing work to support the family members throughout this extremely hard time. Our Counseling and Psychological Expert services (CAPS) team is obtainable to enable other individuals who are impacted by this tragedy. Our views and hearts are with these college students and their loved types.”

The two-automobile crash transpired all-around 4:15 a.m. on Route 3 in between Ware and East Cape Girardeau on Thursday morning, April 21.

According to Illinois State Law enforcement, a 2013 blue Fiat Sedan was likely southbound on Route 3, just north of Previous Cape Highway in Union County when for an unidentified reason it crossed the middle line and strike a black Toyota Sedan head-on.

The driver of the Fiat, 32-12 months-previous Marie A. Meunier, of Cape Girardeau, and the driver of the Toyota, 23-year-aged Pavan Swarna, of Carbondale, died at the scene. A passenger in the Toyota, 23-12 months-outdated Vamshi K. Pechetty, of Carbondale, was also pronounced useless at the scene.

A few other passengers in the Toyota Sedan, 23-calendar year-old Yaswanth S. Uppalapati, of Carbondale, 23-12 months-outdated Karthik Kakumanu of Carbondale, and 24-yr-previous Kalyan Dorna, of Carbondale, have been taken to an space clinic with “non-existence-threatening” accidents.

Family members, students, and professors at SIU are in mourning tonight pursuing a lethal crash on route 3 that remaining two pupils dead.

The highway was reopened around 9 a.m., following emergency crews cleared the scene of really serious crash north of the Union-Alexander County line.

For the duration of the closure, motor vehicles were being diverted at the Cape Y south of McClure in Alexander County, which is the T intersection of Rte. 146 and Rte. 3.

Drivers have been urged to detour using Route 127 south to Rte. 3 in Alexander County.

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