University mourns student deaths

BOWLING GREEN, O.—Seven Bowling Green State University international students were involved in a car accident early this morning (Jan. 2) on I-80 near Angola, Ind.. Two of the students were fatally injured and the five other students were either not injured or received minor injuries.

The accident occurred at approximately 12:20 a.m. when the van they were driving east on the Indiana toll road entered the median and rolled several times. One of the students died at the scene and another was pronounced dead at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne.

The deceased students were identified by police as Apsana Giri (Uhp-sahna Gear-ee), 26, of Kathmandu, Nepal, and Sweety Mazumdar (Sweety Mah-zoom-dar), 25, of Kolkata, India.

In a statement, BGSU President Sidney Ribeau said, "The Bowling Green State University community extends its deepest condolences to the families of two international students killed in the tragic accident earlier today. Our thoughts and prayers are with them, with the five other students involved in the accident, and with our international community in this time of sadness."

Giri was a master's degree studying biological sciences at BGSU, and Mazumdar was a master's degree student in geology.

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Following are the names of all the international students involved in the accident:

Ms. Apsana Giri (Uhp-sahna Gear-ee)

Hometown: Kathmandu, Nepal
Birth date: 4-21-1981
Age: 26
Major: Master's program in biology
Note: died at scene

Ms. Sweety Mazumdar (Sweety Mah-zoom-dar)

Hometown: Kolkata, India
Birth date: 4-4-1982
Age: 25
Major: Master's program in geology
Note: died at Parkview Hospital in Fort Wayne, Ind. at 5:25 a.m.

Mr. Puran De (Pooh-rahn Deh)

Hometown: Bakhrabad, India
Birth date: 4-7-1985
Age: 22
Major: Doctoral program in photochemical sciences

Mr. Nigel Dsouza (Ni-juhl Dee SOO' zuh)

Hometown: Pune, India
Birth date: 4-15-1983
Age: 24
Major: Doctoral program in biology

Mr. Mohammad Chowdhury (Moe HAH' mud CHOW dree)

Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh
Birth date: 10-20-1982
Age: 25
Major: Bachelor's program in physics

Mr. Mridutpal Nag (M Ri-DOOT-puhl Nag)

Hometown: Kolkata, India
Birth date: 8-18-1982
Age: 25
Major: Master's program in applied statistics

Mr. Rahul Mukherjee (Rah-Hool Moo-KUR'-gee)

Hometown: Ranchi, India
Birth date: 8-23-1983
Age: 24
Major: Master's program in communication studies

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(Posted January 02, 2008)