REYNOLDSVILLE, Ill. — Two Southern Illinois University-Carbondale graduate students and a Missouri woman died Thursday after their vehicles collided on a highway, police said.
The crash that occurred about 4:15 a.m. on Illinois Route 3 in Union County killed Marie A. Meunier, 32 of Cape Girardeau, Missouri, and students Pavan Swarna and Vamshi K. Pechetty, both 23, of Carbondale, state police said.
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They were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, police said.
Meunier was driving a 2013 blue Fiat sedan when her car crossed the center line and struck the front of the 2019 Toyota sedan Swarna was driving, police said.
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Three other SIU graduate students were injured in the collision, police said: 23-year-old Yaswanth S. Uppalapati, 24-year-old Kalyan Dorna and 23-year-old Kakumanu Karthik.
Three other SIU graduate students were injured in the collision, police said: 23-year-old Yaswanth S. Uppalapati, 24-year-old Kalyan Dorna and 23-year-old Kakumanu Karthik, all of Carbondale. Karthik suffered lift-threatening injuries, police said.
“We are working to support the families during this incredibly difficult time,” SIU Chancellor Austin Lane said in a statement. “Our thoughts and hearts are with these students and their loved ones.”
