Young Punjabi Student in Australia Dies in Car Crash

A car crash in Australia’s Canberra left a young Indian student from Punjab dead, as per a report. Kunal Chopra, 21, had moved to Australia in February last year and was living with his cousin. The body is in the process of being sent to India, back to Chopra’s family.

Kunal Chopra was studying in Australia and arrived in the country last February. He and his cousin were staying together in Canberra and last week while coming back from work at around 7 a.m., Chopra’s car collided with a concrete pumping truck on William Hovell Drive. Preliminary investigation showed that Chopra’s car moved to the wrong side of the road and hit the city-bound truck. The 21-year-old student from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, died on the spot.

“We are heartbroken, and his family back home is shattered and inconsolable,” Honey Malhotra, the cousin of Chopra told a media outlet. Arrangements are being made to send Chopra’s body back to India to his family. Gurpreet Singh Gill, a friend and community representative said, “We are in touch with his family, and also with the Indian High Commission, which is helping with the repatriation of his mortal remains to India.”

This was the first road fatality of 2023 in Canberra territory. Recently, four men of Indian origin lost their lives in Shepparton, Australia. A car and a ute collided at Pine Lodge North Road, near Cosgrove-Lemnos Road, on 4 January. There were five people in the car and four of them lost their lives. They were identified as Bhupinder Singh from Jalandhar, Baljinder Singh and Kishan Singh from Tarn Taran, and Harpal Singh from Mukstar. They were tourists visiting their extended family in Australia.

The driver of the ute was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries and will appear in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on June 8. He has been charged with four counts of dangerous driving causing death.

Vineet Washington