Dozens of men and women gathered on the shoulder of Interstate 275 shortly before sunset Sunday with flowers, candles and a wreath.
Less than 24 hours earlier, a fiery crash involving a wrong-way driver killed four University of South Florida fraternity brothers near the site. The collision also killed the driver of the wayward SUV that plowed into them in a crest of the highway shortly after 2 a.m. on a tragic Sunday along Hillsborough County roadways.
Two other accidents on different sides of Hillsborough claimed three additional lives.
The 100 friends and fellow USF students who gathered along Interstate 275 talked of grief and brotherhood as a Facebook video purporting to show the crash made its way across social media.
"Life is way too short, guys," Kareem Noorani, 24, said at the roadside memorial. "You guys all want to be doctors, lawyers, teachers. Whatever you want to be, do it for these four fine young men. If you're having a bad day, remember you're still here, living and breathing."
The I-275 crash, which closed the highway for nearly five hours, occurred a few hundred feet north of Busch Boulevard in the northbound lanes when the White Ford Expedition, traveling south, plowed head-on with a 2010 Hyundai Sonata carrying the four men, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
The Expedition burst into flames, the FHP said, while the Sonata was torn apart and partly burned. All five men, including two in the Sonata who were wearing seat belts, died at the scene, troopers said.
The person behind the wheel of the Expedition has not yet been identified. Investigators are trying to determine where the driver entered I-275 and whether alcohol or drugs played a part in the crash, troopers said.
The driver of the Hyundai was Jobin Joy Kuriakose, 21, of Orlando, according to the Highway Patrol. His passengers were Ankeet Harshad Patel, 22, and Dammie Yesudhas, 21, of Melbourne; and Imtiyaz Ilias, 20, of Fort Myers.
All were members of Sigma Beta Rho fraternity, which is dedicated to cultural awareness. The off-campus fraternity, which has 20 active members, lost a fifth of its brotherhood in the crash.
"Obviously we're devastated by the loss of these brothers," fraternity president Raj Patel, no relation to Ankeet Patel, said. "Our grievances and condolences go out to those four families as well as to the family of the driver."
FHP investigators want to speak to a woman who posted on Facebook a stunning 52-second phone video that appears to show the white Expedition as it drives the wrong way on the interstate while more than a dozen oncoming vehicles pass it. The deadly collision cannot be seen clearly in the video, but it shows at least one vehicle burning immediately after the crash.
FHP spokesman Steve Gaskins said he could not say if the video is authentic. "We have not had a chance to speak to her," said Gaskins, referring to Jada Wright, who posted it on Facebook.
Wright did not return a message from the Tampa Bay Times. The video was removed from her Facebook page by 6 p.m. Sunday, though it is unclear why.
"RIP to the fallen angels from my video last night," Wright said on her Facebook page. "My deepest condolences to their families."
Wright seems puzzled at first as she begins to film the Expedition going south from where she was driving in the southbound lanes. "What is he doing?" Then she added: "He's on the wrong side ... Where's he going?"
As the burning vehicle comes into camera view, Wright screams, "Oh my God! Oh my God!"
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