TOI Correspondent from London: Five Indian students from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana have been involved in a major car crash in Leicestershire in the UK, leaving one dead and the other four, including the driver, in hospital. The driver has been arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving.
The accident took place just after 5.45am on Tuesday 10 Dec and involved a single vehicle – a grey Mazda 3 Tamura – which left the A6 road in Kibworth and ended up in a ditch.
One of the passengers, Chiranjeevi Panguluri (32), a resident of Leicester, who hails from Chimakurthy, Prakasam District, AP and was a master’s student at Swansea University, was declared dead at the scene.
Three other passengers in the car and the driver were all taken to hospital.
The driver, an Indian male student, from Telangana (27) was arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving and has since been released on police bail. Police confirmed late Wednesday that he has been discharged from hospital.
One of the passengers, Pranavi (25), a Leicester university student from Hyderabad, sustained minor injuries and is out of serious danger, friends said. Police confirmed late Wednesday that she too had been discharged from hospital.
Sai Badrinath Thenetti (23), who was born in Chodavaram, AP, and is a master’s student at Swansea University, sustained numerous serious injuries and remains in hospital in Leicester. Badrinath’s family now live in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. He was sharing a room in Leicester with Panguluri.
Yamalayya Bandlamudi (27), who hails from Pamidipadu, Guntur district, a Nottingham Trent University student, is seriously injured and also remains in hospital, his friends said.
Their families have been informed.
Leicestershire Police said their injuries, whilst serious, are not believed to be life threatening.
Friends said that the five Telugu students were all living in Leicester and travelling to work that morning to work at a warehouse. Due to the rainy weather, the tyres skid and the brakes then failed and in order to stop the car, the driver tried to hit a roadside a tree or roadside object but instead the car veered off the road and went down a slope and landed in a ditch. Pranavi flagged down a truck driver who stopped and called the police for assistance.
