A car accident on Friday killed three University of Oklahoma meteorology students as they returned home from “chasing” storms in Kansas.
Nicholas Nair, of 20 years old, of Denton, Texas; Drake Brooks, of 22, of Evansville, Indiana, and Gavin Short, of 19 years, from Grayslake, Illinois, were the identities of the student victims of the fatal collision.
The three students were driving toward south on the Interstate 35 near Tonkawa, when the Volkswagen Tiguan 2017 flipped over, veered off the road to the right, and then when he got back into his lane, he stopped. At that time, a truck traveling in the same direction struck them, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
Authorities declared the three youths dead at the scene, located about 85 miles north of Oklahoma City. The truck driver was transported to a local hospital but released. The bodies of the victims were removed from the rubble thanks to the hard work of almost five and a half hours by the patrol and paramedics of the Tonkawa Fire Department.
The accident took place around 11: 23 pm Friday, just three hours after students witnessed a small tornado north of Herrington, Kansas, according to their Twitter accounts.
The College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences of the University of Oklahoma issued a statement expressing its sorrow at the loss of the three students, and asked the entire community to join in prayers for them.
“Our community in Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences is very united, and our School of Meteorology is very much a family. Now, more than ever, we must come together with kindness and sincere mutual support. Please join us in offering thoughts and prayers for those most affected and providing them with privacy,” the statement said.
With information from The Oklahoman