TOI Correspondent from London: Five Indian students from Andhra Pradesh have been involved in a major car crash in Leicestershire, leaving one dead and the other four, including the driver, in hospital. The driver has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.
The accident took place just after 5.45am on Tuesday 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, who hails from Ongole, and had recently graduated from 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 Guntur, 27, was arrested on suspicion of death by dangerous driving and has since been released on police bail.
One of the passengers, Pranavi, a Leicester university student from Guntur, sustained minor injuries and is out of serious danger, friends said. Badri, who hails from Ongole and had recently graduated from Swansea University, sustained a hand injury and swollen eye and remains in hospital in Leicester. Hemalaiah, who hails from Guntur, a Nottingham university student living in Leicester, is seriously injured and also remains in hospital, his friends said. Their families have been informed.
Leicestershire police said the injuries are not believed to be life threatening.
Friends said the five Telugu students were all living in Leicester and travelling to work that morning in a car pool 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.