Car accident leaves two Syracuse students dead
A third student is injured in the hospital
Syracuse graduate students Chengye Hou and Yifan Tao were killed in a car accident in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Detective Jon Seeber from the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office said the students were driving on East Seneca Turnpike at midnight when they crossed over into the other lane and then went off the road completely hitting a tree.
Hou was the driver of the four-door sedan that hit the tree while Tao was the back seat passenger. Both died instantly at the scene.
East Seneca Turnpike
The third victim is an unknown SU student who was rushed to the Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse with non-life threatening injuries. There is an ongoing investigation underway behind the cause of the accident.
Hou and Tao were both originally from China pursuing the Engineering and Computer Science program here at Syracuse University. They were both expected to graduate in 2017.
SU is offering counseling to students and faculty.