Four members of Gaithersburg family die during visit to India

Two teenage daughters killed along with their parents

An older daughter, Padma, did not make the trip to India with the family. The family lived in Gaithersburg.

The driver of the family’s rented van lost control of the vehicle on a two-lane rural road and veered into an oncoming truck, said Indu Sridharan, a friend of the family.

An attendant hired to help with one son’s wheelchair also died in the crash, she said, and the driver was injured.

The U.S. Department of State did not return a call seeking information.

Pava Soundararajan, 19, has cerebral palsy and Sairam Soundararajan, 12, has autism, Sridharan said. They are still hospitalized in India but are expected to return to the United States within the next few weeks, she said.

‘‘It’s unbelievable. It has shaken all of us,” she said.

Raju Soundararajan worked for the Montgomery County Public Schools Department of Transportation for the last 30 years, said Kate Harrison, a school system spokeswoman. In recent years he was a fueling assistant at the Shady Grove bus depot.

Jayanthi Soundararajan was a software engineer for Lockheed Martin in Rockville. Before that she worked for SAIC in Vienna, Va. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Strayer University in 2007, according to information provided by the family.

In addition to working and being a traditional wife and mother, Jayanthi Soundararajan volunteered at a homeless shelter in Washington, D.C., where she taught the woman how to use computers, Sridharan said.

‘‘She was the rock of the family,” she said.

Priya and Lakshmi attended Clarksburg High School. Priya just finished her junior year and Lakshmi completed her freshman year. They were both honor students and loved music and dance, said Principal James P. Koutsos

‘‘The girls were very visible and present and enthusiastic at the school,” Koutsos said. ‘‘There will be a void in our building with these two girls gone.”

Priya was a talented writer, artist and dancer, he said. She was dedicated to her culture.

Lakshmi was ‘‘a young lady of great conviction,” Koutsos said. She belonged to the school’s environmental club and was always environmentally conscious.

‘‘The two of them were so proud of each other,” he said.

The local South Indian community knows the family through Raju Soundararajan’s musical talents and interests, family said.

He performed regularly at the Sri Siva Vishnu Hindu temple in Lanham. For the past 25 years he organized the annual Thyagaraja Music Festival, which is held in January. Every weekend for the last few months of the year, he trained singers for the festival at his home, Sridharan said.

Raju Soundararajan came to the United States from India about 35 years ago, Sridharan said. Jayanthi Soundararajan came to this country about 20 years ago.

A Hindu Pushpanjali in honor of the family was held Saturday at the temple in Lanham.

Family members were devotees of Sri Sathya Sai Baba, whose teachings stress the importance of service, Sridharan said. They were actively involved in the Sathya Sai Center in Bethesda.

Friends of the family are planning to start a fund to help with medical expenses and to help Padma with the long-term care of her brothers.