A 22-year-old college student was killed while four of his friends were injured after a speeding Thar SUV lost control and crashed into a divider near the Bhai Randhir Singh (BRS) Nagar Zone D road cut in the city on Thursday morning.The mangled remains of the SUV after the mishap in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Ludhiana, on Thursday. (Gurpreet Singh/HT)The deceased has been identified as Aryan Veer Singh, a student of Government SCD College, Ludhiana, who was also the president of the college student union.According to the police, the five friends were travelling in the Mahindra Thar and were returning home after going out early in the morning to buy eggs before heading to the gym.The accident took place around 7 am near the BRS Nagar Zone D junction when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle, causing it to ram into the divider. The impact was so severe that the SUV was wrecked.Aryan Veer Singh, who was driving the vehicle, died on the spot. The injured youths were rushed to a nearby private hospital with the help of passersby and police personnel.ASI Davinder Singh, investigating officer, said Divyansh, 23, the owner of the Thar, suffered a head injury, while another youth, Yuvraj Gill, 21, sustained injuries to his arm. The condition of the remaining two injured youths was stated to be stable.Teams from Sarabha Nagar Police reached the spot soon after receiving information about the accident. The body was shifted for a postmortem examination and further investigation was underway, officials said.According to National Crime Bureau data, Ludhiana witnessed 483 road accidents in 2024, claiming 376 lives. The figures translate into a fatality rate of 77.84%, meaning nearly eight out of every 10 accidents in the city ended in death. In comparison, 504 road accidents were reported in 2023, in which 402 people lost their lives, pushing the fatality rate close to 80%. According to these figures, the city continues to remain among the most dangerous urban centres in the country in terms of road fatality rate.