In a tragic incident, a Telangana techie was mowed down by a light rail train in Santa Clara, USA on December 14. He succumbed to his injuries while being taken to the hospital.
A resident of Albany, Ohio, 44-year-old Krishna Erravelli was mowed down near a crossing. He had gone to San Jose for official work. Although the incident occurred on December 14, his friends only got to know of the incident on Sunday.
The Santa Clara Coroner’s office said that the Alum Rock-bound Valley Transportation Authority train hit him near North First Street and Component Drive around 5.30 pm.
“The train that struck the pedestrian was shut down and about 100 passengers were removed and transferred onto another train,” said Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Brandi Childress.
Krishna, a native of Karimnagar, is survived by a wife and two daughters. He had moved to the United States about 10 years ago, and had been working with a software company.
His parents still live in Karimnagar, and the family is making efforts to bring his body back.
Krishna’s cousin Vikram Rao Yerraballi has started a GoFundMe page to support Krishna’s family. Set with a goal of $100,000, the campaign has managed to raise $53,964 from 782 people in just two days. According to the page, it will help cover Krishna’s funeral costs as well as the travel costs of his wife and children back to India.
On Sunday, Vikram had updated the GoFundMe page, where he said that Krishna's body had been moved from the coroner's office to the funeral house, where his body was being prepped to fly to India on Tuesday or Wednesday. The GoFundMe page is filled with condolence messages, with people pitching in support with anywhere from $10 to $500.
This was the second such instance in Santa Clara in recent times. On December 13, a 78-year-old man was also knocked down by a light rail, and died on the spot.