2 University Of New Haven Students Killed In Mass. Crash: Officials

WEST HAVEN, CT — Two University of New Haven students were killed in a crash early Tuesday morning in Massachusetts, according to officials.

University officials confirmed Wednesday that Sai Narasimha Patamsetti and Pavani Gullapally, both 22-year-old graduate students, died in the crash.

The crash happened around 5:30 a.m. on Route 7 in Sheffield, Massachusetts, according to WTNH News 8.

WTNH reports a Toyota Sienna that was heading north and a Chevrolet Silverado that was heading south collided.

Four other UNH graduate students were also injured in the crash and were hospitalized in Massachusetts, according to University of New Haven Dean of Students Ophelie Rowe-Allen.

A seventh passenger in the minivan, a student from another university, was also killed in the crash, Rowe-Allen said in a message to the school community.

The Hartford Courant reported Thursday that Prem Kumar Goda, 27, a graduate student at Sacred Heart University, was the third student killed in the crash. Goda was attending Sacred Heart's Welch College of Business and Technology at the time of his death.

The cause of the crash is being investigated by authorities in Massachusetts.

Rowe-Allen said Narasimha Patamsetti was a business analytics graduate student from Rajahmundry Urban, India, and Gullapally was a civil engineering graduate student from Warangal, India.

“Please keep your fellow classmates in your thoughts and prayers this evening,” Rowe-Allen said in the message. “It is at times like this that members of our community can offer strength and comfort to each other.”

Grief counseling was made available to students.

“Please join me in extending our heartfelt condolences to the parents, family, friends, and classmates of Pavani and Sai, and in keeping all of the students involved in your thoughts,” Rowe-Allen said.