Md. State Police Investigating Whether Speed A Factor In I-83 Triple Fatal Crash

TIMONIUM, Md. (WJZ) -- We are learning more about the three friends killed in a terrible crash off I-83 last weekend.

Mary Bubala has reaction from friends about the sudden loss.

The three men, all from south India, were roommates in Fairfax, Virginia. Sharath Sudeshanam was just days shy of his 25th birthday and Vignesh Ashokan was only 23-years-old. Both men were students at Virginia International University, where they were working towards master's degrees in technology.

The third man killed, 25-year-old Mallikarjun Moka, was a recent graduate who had just gotten a job at a credit union.

On Saturday, they left their Fairfax apartment to visit another friend in Cockeysville. They headed home at about 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning and then they seemed to vanish.

"We didn't hear from them, so we started calling their cell phones. Then we filed a complaint," said Harsha Konoapalli, crash victims' friend.

On Tuesday evening, a driver on I-83 near 695 spotted some debris in a heavily wooded area in Timonium. It turned out it was the wreckage from the accident that killed the three men.

Police say the car somehow veered off the road and struck a tree. They are now investigating whether speed was a factor.

"Based on the impact between the tree and the vehicle, the vehicle broke into several pieces," said Sgt. Marc Black, Maryland State Police.

Back at their Fairfax apartment, friends are grieving and fielding calls from the victims' families back in India.

The families are all still in India, so the friends are planning a memorial service at the university for next week.

The crash investigation closed ramps at I-83 and the outer loop for more than six hours on Tuesday.

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