Editorial Cartoon: Evolution in action
A memorial service for Anusha Anumolu, Anitha Lakshmi Veerapaneni and Priya Darshini Muppavarapu will be at 7 p.m. today in the Grand Ballroom of the Martin Luther King Jr. University Union.
On March 21, the three international students from India were killed in a car crash near St. Louis.
On that early Saturday morning, Anumolu, Veerapaneni and Muppavarapu had gone to dinner and bowling with Veerapaneni’s fiancé, Netish Adusumilli, 27, of Ballwin, Mo., and Veerapaneni’s cousin, Satya Chinta, 23, of Aurora, Ill.
Adusumilli was driving them home when an off-duty suburban St. Louis police officer going the wrong way struck them. Veerapaneni, Anumolu and Muppavarapu were pronounced dead at the scene at 2:15 a.m., according to a Missouri State Highway Patrol crash report. Chinta was also pronounced dead at the scene.
The two drivers, Christine L. Miller, 41, of Kirkwood, Mo., and Adusumilli were the only survivors.
Authorities believe alcohol may have been involved in the crash, but reports will not be available for at least two more months.
Anumolu, Veerapaneni and Muppavarapu were students in the master’s degree program in technology at Eastern. They also all worked together in Tower Dining.
The news of their death spread throughout the campus community over the next two days after the crash, as students returned from spring break.
The victims were three in a small, tight-knit Indian community on campus. The university averages 150 international students each semester at Eastern, and of that, there are currently 42 Indian students.
“The loss we feel is very great,” said Sue Songer, the international student adviser, just after the crash happened. “From the students’ classmates to their faculty members to international programs to their work places … they had such hope, and they were excellent students and it is so tragic we lost the three girls.”
White attire is encouraged at the service. Any questions should be directed to Counseling Center Director Sandy Cox at 581-3413.
Emily Zulz can be reached at 581-7942 or at eazulz@eiu.edu.
