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Tornado in Kansas (late April)
Photo: Amy Leiker / dpa
They were chasing a tornado in their car in Kansas – but the return trip ended in death for three University of Oklahoma students.
Nicholas Nair, 20, Gavin Short, 19, and Drake Brooks, 22, were three in a car following a tornado on Friday night.
The tornado was part of a violent storm front that swept across Kansas over the weekend.
Nair posted video of the storm on Twitter.
Shortly thereafter, the three had an accident on the way back to Oklahoma, as reported by several media outlets.
Because of the bad weather, the road apparently aquaplaned - the three's car slid into the oncoming lane, got stuck there and was rammed by an oncoming tractor-trailer.
All three students died in the accident, and the truck driver was taken to the hospital, but was released shortly thereafter.
On Saturday evening, the US National Weather Service released a weather balloon bearing the names of the three students in the city of Norman, Oklahoma.
"On this very sad day for the Norman weather community, our evening weather balloon launch is dedicated to Nic, Drake and Gavin," the service wrote on Twitter.
Cars flew through the air, houses were smashed
Several people were injured and numerous homes damaged by the storms in Kansas over the weekend.
In the Sedgwick district, which also includes Kansas' largest city, Wichita, and in the Butler district, eight people were injured, one of them seriously, the heads of the responsible emergency services said at a press conference on Saturday night (local time).
The broadcaster CNN reported twelve slightly injured, citing Wichita's fire department.
Andover, a suburb of Wichita, was particularly hard hit.
Emergency services would search the area for other possible victims.
According to Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple, around 50 to 100 buildings were damaged in the area.
In Andover, according to local fire chief Chad Russell, more than 900 buildings were in the path of the tornado.
However, the exact extent of the damage is still unclear.
Russell called on residents not to return to their homes for the time being, even in the face of numerous downed power poles.
Footage on social media showed destructive gusts of wind sweeping through the region.
Cars flew through the air, houses and shops were smashed.
Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly declared a state of emergency.
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