Three OU meteorology students died in a car crash Friday night while driving back to Norman after chasing storms near the Oklahoma-Kansas border.
Nicholas Nair, 20, Gavin Short, 19, and Drake Brooks, 22, were pronounced dead at the scene after driving southbound near Tonkawa on Interstate 35 around 11 p.m. when their 2017 Volkswagen Tiguan hydroplaned and departed from the road, according to Oklahoma Highway Patrol. After parking on the side of the road, they were struck by a semi-truck.
The accident occurred just three hours after the students recorded a tornado around 8 p.m. north of Herrington, Kansas, according to Short’s Twitter post.
The OU College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences wrote in a statement that OU officials are in communication with the students’ families.
— Oklahoma Meteorology (@ousom) April 30, 2022
OU meteorology sophomore Daniel Carter wrote in an Instagram post that the three students were some of his best friends at OU, adding Short was the “smartest, most bright person you’d ever meet” and Nair was a “shining light” on campus. Carter wrote that, while he didn’t know Brooks as well as Short and Nair, they shared great conversations about weather and video games.
“They were all very talented in the meteorology department and that never went unnoticed,” Carter wrote. “I never expected the day to come where I have to lay a friend to rest, let alone three all at one time. I am going to miss the storm chasing days with these three incredible men who I called my best friends.”
Marissa McGuire wrote in an Instagram post that Short was one of the smartest people she knew, adding she loved how he’d pull out his laptop with multiple weather-related programs and websites open. McGuire wrote that Nair was one of the “sweetest” and “friendliest” people she knew.
“You could always count on (Nair) for a joke or a smiling face,” McGuire wrote. “Occasionally when I’d be on my walk back from physics, we would run into each other and he would always give me a hug. Because that’s what he did, for everyone.”
The students were pinned for approximately five hours and 26 minutes before being extricated by Tonkawa Fire and EMS, according to OHP. The driver of the semi-truck was taken to a hospital and has been treated and released.
The cause of the collision remains under investigation by OHP.
This article was updated at 8:44 p.m. on April 26, 2023 to clarify details about the crash.
