Image taken at the scene of the accident.

1st Sgt. Chad Hill, Public Information Office
Kosciusko County F.A.C.T. Team

ETNA GREEN —Three people were killed and two were injured from a vehicle crash that occurred last evening on the west side of Kosciusko County.

Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department Deputies and emergency personnel responded last night at approximately 10:24 p.m. to the intersection of U.S. 30 and State Road 19 in regards to a 9-1-1 call of a vehicular crash.  Officers and fireman arrived and immediately summoned the Kosciusko County Coroner Office.  Kosciusko County Coroner Anthony Coroner, Anthony Ciriello, pronounced Ramesh Chand, 70, Elmhurst, New York, and Subhash Sood, 69, Fort Wayne, deceased at the scene. 

Kosciusko County F.A.C.T. Team members arrived and preliminarily determined that a white, 2013 Dodge van, driven by Samita Sood, 37, Fort Wayne, had previously been traveling eastbound on U.S. 30 and had turned northbound at the intersection of State Road 19.  Sood purportedly stated to officers that she had viewed the flashing yellow left-hand traffic signal light and proceeded to turn, but pulled directly into the path of a westbound UPS semi-tractor/trailer, driven by Robert F. Buesching, 52, Fort Wayne.  Buesching was reportedly not injured.

Samita Sood, along with a passenger from her vehicle, Subhash Sodd, 68, Elmhurst, New York, was transported to Lutheran Hospital, Fort Wayne, in serious condition with abdominal pain.  A fifth passenger in the van, identified as Navedita Bhambhani, 46, Forest Hills, New York, was extricated from the vehicle and airlifted from the scene by Parkview Samaritan in critical condition.  Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Deputies were advised this morning that Navedita Bhambhani had succumbed to her injuries at Parkview Regional Medical Center, Fort Wayne.

Kosciusko County F.A.C.T. team members stated that the crash is still currently under investigation.  F.A.C.T. team members were also assisted at the scene by the Etna Green Fire Department, Bourbon Police Department, Mentone Police Department, Lutheran Kosciusko E.M.S., and the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Department.