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Posted: 9:55 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 24, 2012
KTVU.com
PALO ALTO, Calif. —
A second victim has died in the Black Friday crash on Highway 101 in Palo Alto, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The California Highway Patrol said 20-year-old Sheetal Tandel died from her injuries at Stanford Medical Center early Saturday morning.
Tandel was riding in her family's gold Lexus SUV with her three sisters and her parents, when her father struck the back of a CHP vehicle that was pulled over on the northbound side of Highway 101.
Before the crash, the CHP vehicle had pulled up next to a broken-down white pickup truck that was pulled over on the right-hand shoulder, said CHP officer Amelia Jack.
After speaking to the truck's occupants, the CHP officer pulled up in front of the truck, which was when the SUV swerved into the shoulder for unknown reasons and hit the left side of the patrol vehicle, Jack said.
The SUV then flipped and came to a rest on the Embarcadero Road off-ramp after two sisters, Sheetal and 24-year-old bride-to-be Nisha, were ejected.
Jack said it was unclear if the sisters ejected were wearing seat belts.
Nisha died at the scene of the accident.
Relatives and friends came to the hospital Friday to keep a vigil for the mother, Yogita Tandel, and Sheetal, both of whom were in critical condition that night.
“I didn't know it would turn out like this,” said Bhavin Tandel, a family friend. “I'm just very sorry that it had to happen.”
The CHP said alcohol and drugs were not factors in the accident and they were still trying to determine what caused the father veer off the road.
Investigators told KTVU that they were looking at the possibility that the father, 48-year-old Arvin Tandel, fell asleep at the wheel.
Friends said the Tandel family had driven from San Bruno late last night to the Gilroy outlets to go shopping after Thanksgiving dinner.
“They wanted to go shopping for Black Friday and this morning they were coming back from Gilroy,” Bhavin Tandel said.
Friends said Nisha Tandel was planning to get married in India in January.
CHP also said that Arvin Tandel and two other sisters, 22-year old Payal and a 12-year old whose name was not being released because she was a minor, were all listed in stable condition at Valley Medical center in San Jose Friday.
The CHP officer was also treated for minor injuries and released soon afterward.
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