Hyderabad: Three members of a Hyderabad-origin family were killed and two others seriously injured when their car was hit by an oncoming vehicle on US Highway 93 North near Wells in Elko County, Nevada, on July 20, as they were returning from a family vacation to Yellowstone National Park via Salt Lake City, Utah.

The deceased were identified as 45-year-old homemaker Nazia Salma, her 16-year-old daughter Hafeza Neha Shaikh, who had recently completed Intermediate and was exploring university admissions, and her 14-year-old son Hafez Shaikh Omer, a class 8 student.

Nazia’s husband, Shaik Abdul Naveed, 48, and their seven-year-old daughter Khatija survived the crash and are undergoing treatment at the University of Utah Hospital.

Naveed’s father, Shaik Abdul Sayeed, a resident of Saidabad in Hyderabad, said his son had developed a severe stomach ache and begun vomiting during the drive and had asked his wife to take over the wheel, after which an oncoming vehicle crashed into their car. 

He said Naveed had suffered multiple fractures and undergone several surgeries, and though he was out of coma, he frequently lost consciousness and was still unaware that his wife and two children had died. Khatija’s condition was now stable, he said.

According to relatives, Naveed has lived in the US for the past 16 years and works as a director at the pharmaceutical company Merck, while Nazia had completed her MSc before moving to the US.

The family has appealed to the Ministry of External Affairs and US authorities for emergency visas for close relatives, including Naveed’s parents and brother, to allow them to travel to the US.

Mohan Nannapaneni of Team Legal Aid, which is assisting the family, said the bodies would not be repatriated to India and would instead be moved from Reno, Nevada, to the San Francisco Bay Area for burial, adding that the organisation’s immediate priority was supporting the injured family members and helping with the final rites.