The students, doing their post-graduation in engineering, were returning from Illinois to St Louis Saturday night.

The accident occurred when a car collided with their vehicle on the highway near St. Louis in Missouri.

The dead have been identified as Velumula Srujan Reddy of Karimnagar, Chitturi Sriharsha of Visakhapatnam, and Ravi Srikanth and G. Dheeraj of Hyderabad. 

All were students of Rolla University in Missouri.
Another student, B. Murali of Chittoor, who was driving the car, was critically injured.
A pall of gloom descended on the houses of the deceased. Their parents and other family members were shocked when they received the information Monday.

"He was a brilliant student and had gone to US for higher studies with the dream of a bright career," said a relative of Srujan Reddy.

The families appealed to the government to make arrangements for bringing the bodies back home at the earliest.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy expressed shock over the mishap and conveyed his heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased. He directed the officials to contact the Indian embassy in the US for making arrangements to bring the bodies home.