According to police reports, two Southern Illinois University-Carbondale graduate students and a Missouri woman died after their vehicles collided on Illinois Route 3 highway in Union County on Thursday.
The reports say that crash happened around 4.15 AM and killed Marie A. Meunier (32) from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and students Pawan Swarna (23) and Vamshi Krishna Pechetty(23) from Carbondale. They were declared dead at the scene of the accident.
Marie was driving a blue Fiat sedan when her car crossed the center line and struck the front of the Toyota sedan Pawan Swarna was driving. The police said that three other SIU graduate students, 23-year-old Yaswanth S. Uppalapati, 24-year-old Kalyan Dorna, and 23-year-old Kakumanu Karthik, were injured in the crash. The reports suggest that Karthik suffered life-threatening injuries.
The Southern Illinois University Chancellor Austin Lane said they are working to support the families during this miserable time. Lane added that their thoughts and hearts are with these students and their loved ones.
The SIU Carbondale campus and community will come together on Friday at 7:30 PM for a candlelight vigil that will take place near the Becker Pavilion on Campus Lake.
The vigil will honor the lives of the deceased students, Vamshi Krishna Pechetty and Pavan Swarna.
