3 Oklahoma University Students Die In Crash After Storm-Chasing Trip

Three meteorology students at the University of Oklahoma were killed in a car crash Friday night as they returned from a storm-chasing trip to Kansas.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol identified the three deceased students as Nicholas K. Nair, 20, of Denton, Texas. Gavin A. Short, 19, of Grayslake, Illinois, and Drake H. Brooks, 22, of Evansville, Indiana. Nair was said to be behind the wheels, NBC News reported.

Nair was driving southbound on Interstate 35 when the car met with an accident.

The young students died just before 11:30 p.m. ET when their vehicle hydroplaned and was struck by a tractor-trailer about 85 miles north of Oklahoma City, KRLD reported, citing Oklahoma Highway Patrol.

The Highway Patrol said the three students were chasing a storm near Herington, Kansas, about 70 miles northeast of Wichita. The tornado had reportedly ripped up homes and businesses and injured at least four. The OHP said it was rainy conditions when the students' car hydroplaned.

A friend of the deceased students, Daniel Carter, told CNN that he had checked their location and grew suspicious after the map showed they hadn't moved from the same spot on the road for more than half an hour. Carter said he initially thought they were stuck in traffic but started calling every hospital within 200 miles for any information relating to them. After six hours of frantic calling, Carter learned that his friends had died in the crash.

The university mourned the deaths of the young students. "The university is devastated to learn of the tragic passing of three students," Oklahoma University spokesman Mackenzie Scheer told NBC News. "Each were valued and loved members of our community."

Carter paid tribute to his late friends in a Facebook post where he described the devastating news as "some of the most terrible news of [his] life." "Last night 3 of my best friends were lost in a tragic car accident in Oklahoma. Drake Brooks, Nic Nair, and Gavin Short were their [sic] names. These are some of the best friends I’ve made here at OU in the school of meteorology," Carter wrote. "These three young men are people I strive to be like every single day. They were all very talented in the meteorology department and that never went unnoticed... I am going to miss the storm-chasing days with these three incredible men who I called my best friends [sic]."