In a shocking incident, professional car racer Ashwin Sundar and his wife were charred to death after their BMW crashed into a tree and caught fire in Chennai. Sundar and his wife Nivedhitha, who worked as a doctor, were returning from a friend’s home in MRC Nagar and were on the Santhome High Road when the crash happened early Saturday morning.

© Twitter

The BMW caught fire after it rammed into a tree and Sundar and Nivedhitha got trapped in the car. By the time passers-by noticed the burning car and informed the police, their boides had already been charred. It took almost half an hour for the fire rescue team to put out the fire, after which the boides were rushed to the nearest hospital. It was only later that the police could identify the bodies, with the vehicle registration number.

Ashwin Sundar has been active in the car racing field for over a decade, and had bagged the Formula 4 national title twice. The car racing community has expressed shock and grief over the loss of a car racing champion.

Very sad to hear this morning that the young Indian National racing champion Ashwin Sundar and his wife were killed in a road accident. #RIP

Our condolences go out to his family and friends at this difficult time. #AshwinSundar pic.twitter.com/fBSbjS6qDm

Motor sports has lost a truly fine driver and an amazing person in #AshwinSundar. May his soul rest in peace. #RIPAshwin

Car racing, especially Formula One,  has always been a sport laced with risks and the professional car racers have often seen death from up close, escaping on-field crashes by a whisker’s breadth. What happened is indeed tragic.