2 sophomores dead after car struck tree
By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff
April 26, 2007
WELLESLEY -- There was sadness in Daniella Gubara's face yesterday as she walked away from the chapel at Babson College, where students had gathered to remember two classmates who perished in a fiery car crash. 
"We all feel sad. We all feel confused," the Babson freshman said softly. "Surprised. Shocked. It makes us remember what we have. It makes us say thanks for being here."
The campus was mourning the two popular sophomores, who were killed in the single-car crash at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, less than a half-mile from campus.
Authorities said 20-year-old Ishfaq Moinuddin of Dhaka, Bangladesh, was driving a Porsche Cayman that hit a large tree on Forest Street.
His passenger was identified by Wellesley police as 19-year-old Angad Sawhney of Mahwah, N.J.
A friend said Moinuddin loved the car, but never bragged about it.
Wellesley police said Moinuddin was behind the wheel and apparently speeding down Forest Street, a winding residential way that leads directly to the Babson campus, when he lost control near Allen Road.
The vehicle bounced off several trees before it smashed into a large tree, spun around, and came to rest on a front lawn with its headlights pointing into the street, witnesses said.
Then it burst into flames.
Owen Dugan, a Wellesley selectman who lives on Forest Street, said he ran outside when he heard the crash.
"There wasn't anything that could be done to save those people," said Dugan, who described 8-foot flames rising above the roof of the crumpled car. "It was a complete inferno."
He said there were pieces of the vehicle in the tree branches above the wreck.
A preliminary investigation found that the car was speeding on a stretch of road a few blocks from the business school where the speed limit is 30 miles per hour, said Chief Terrence M. Cunningham of the Wellesley Police Department.
Moinuddin and Sawhney had been out to dinner with other students who returned to campus in another car.
Investigators have spoken to the students in the other car and it does not appear they were drinking alcohol or drag racing on the way home, Cunningham said.
He said the other students "came upon the crash themselves."
When Dugan came upon the burning vehicle, he said, some college-age men and women were frantically yelling for the car's occupants to be rescued .
"Get them out!" they yelled, Dugan said. "Get them out!"
The next day, after the wreckage was cleared, somber students came by in groups, ringing the tree with an array of white roses and mums.
In February, Moinuddin was ticketed for speeding in Wellesley, according to Registry of Motor Vehicles records.
The Wellesley fatalities occurred after last weekend's horrific crash in Leicester that killed three high school students and a University of New Hampshire student and left another high school student hospitalized with serious injuries.
Investigators had cited speed as a factor in that accident.
A Babson College administrator described Moinuddin and Sawhney as popular, outgoing, and extremely focused young men.
The college organized a "community gathering" in memory of the two men yesterday afternoon and more than 600 of the 1,700-member student body attended, said Dennis Hanno, dean of undergraduate students.
Those closest to the victims declined to speak yesterday. Relatives of both men, including Sawhney's father, were on campus, but could not be reached for comment.
Hanno, citing conversations with students friendly with the two men, said Moinuddin was from a successful family in Dhaka and was planning, upon graduation, to return to Bangladesh to work with his family.
Sawhney, though only a sophomore, had earned an internship at an investment firm this summer, Hanno said , adding: "That's quite a coup for a sophomore."
News of the deaths spread quickly Tuesday night, and some 100 students, many with connections to South Asia , gathered for mutual comfort overnight at the chapel, Hanno said.
Both men were active in the South Asian student organization, Hanno said.
"It's a community within a community," he said.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Caption
Flowers ringed the tree yesterday that a Babson student struck in his Porsche Tuesday. (George Rizer/ Globe Staff)
"We all feel sad. We all feel confused," the Babson freshman said softly. "Surprised. Shocked. It makes us remember what we have. It makes us say thanks for being here."
The campus was mourning the two popular sophomores, who were killed in the single-car crash at 11:15 p.m. Tuesday, less than a half-mile from campus.
Authorities said 20-year-old Ishfaq Moinuddin of Dhaka, Bangladesh, was driving a Porsche Cayman that hit a large tree on Forest Street.
His passenger was identified by Wellesley police as 19-year-old Angad Sawhney of Mahwah, N.J.
A friend said Moinuddin loved the car, but never bragged about it.
Wellesley police said Moinuddin was behind the wheel and apparently speeding down Forest Street, a winding residential way that leads directly to the Babson campus, when he lost control near Allen Road.
The vehicle bounced off several trees before it smashed into a large tree, spun around, and came to rest on a front lawn with its headlights pointing into the street, witnesses said.
Then it burst into flames.
Owen Dugan, a Wellesley selectman who lives on Forest Street, said he ran outside when he heard the crash.
"There wasn't anything that could be done to save those people," said Dugan, who described 8-foot flames rising above the roof of the crumpled car. "It was a complete inferno."
He said there were pieces of the vehicle in the tree branches above the wreck.
A preliminary investigation found that the car was speeding on a stretch of road a few blocks from the business school where the speed limit is 30 miles per hour, said Chief Terrence M. Cunningham of the Wellesley Police Department.
Moinuddin and Sawhney had been out to dinner with other students who returned to campus in another car.
Investigators have spoken to the students in the other car and it does not appear they were drinking alcohol or drag racing on the way home, Cunningham said.
He said the other students "came upon the crash themselves."
When Dugan came upon the burning vehicle, he said, some college-age men and women were frantically yelling for the car's occupants to be rescued .
"Get them out!" they yelled, Dugan said. "Get them out!"
The next day, after the wreckage was cleared, somber students came by in groups, ringing the tree with an array of white roses and mums.
In February, Moinuddin was ticketed for speeding in Wellesley, according to Registry of Motor Vehicles records.
The Wellesley fatalities occurred after last weekend's horrific crash in Leicester that killed three high school students and a University of New Hampshire student and left another high school student hospitalized with serious injuries.
Investigators had cited speed as a factor in that accident.
A Babson College administrator described Moinuddin and Sawhney as popular, outgoing, and extremely focused young men.
The college organized a "community gathering" in memory of the two men yesterday afternoon and more than 600 of the 1,700-member student body attended, said Dennis Hanno, dean of undergraduate students.
Those closest to the victims declined to speak yesterday. Relatives of both men, including Sawhney's father, were on campus, but could not be reached for comment.
Hanno, citing conversations with students friendly with the two men, said Moinuddin was from a successful family in Dhaka and was planning, upon graduation, to return to Bangladesh to work with his family.
Sawhney, though only a sophomore, had earned an internship at an investment firm this summer, Hanno said , adding: "That's quite a coup for a sophomore."
News of the deaths spread quickly Tuesday night, and some 100 students, many with connections to South Asia , gathered for mutual comfort overnight at the chapel, Hanno said.
Both men were active in the South Asian student organization, Hanno said.
"It's a community within a community," he said.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
Caption
Flowers ringed the tree yesterday that a Babson student struck in his Porsche Tuesday. (George Rizer/ Globe Staff)
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