Three youngsters, two of them software engineers, were killed and one escaped with minor injuries when their car crashed at Saroornagar in the wee hours of Sunday.

The youth at the wheel, who was a 29-year-old techie, and the three other occupants were in an inebriated condition, police said.

Madupati Vinayaka Mallikarjun (29) from New Saidabad, Daravat Sriram Naik (28) of Santosh Nagar, both techies, and Pebba Sainath (27), a private employee from Saidabad, died on the spot, while Maganti Ramapadma Kalyan (27) suffered minor injuries, as he was wearing the seat belt.

Police said the accident took place around 1.50 a.m. when the four were going towards Malakpet after having liquor at a bar in Gurramguda on the eastern fringes. Even after the bar was closed for the day, the youngsters continued consuming liquor in its parking area.

Around 1.20 a.m., they started to drive to Malakpet for dinner. When the car reached the Karmanghat crossroads, Vinayaka lost control on the vehicle that was moving at high speed.

“The car veered off to the left and hit three telephone poles and a tree, and came to a halt only after ploughing into a tiffin centre between Karmanghat and Champapet,” said Saroornagar inspector E. Srinivas Reddy.

He said passers-by called an ambulance, alerted the police on Dial 100 and pulled out the occupants from the mangled four-wheeler.

“While three occupants died on the spot, Kalyan was rushed to a nearby hospital,” the officer said, adding that two of their friends — Shaik Gulzar Ahmed and Botta Yuvamitra — who were following them on a bike, identified the victims.

The impact of the accident was such that even the air bags that opened after the crash could not save them.

Mr. Srinivas Reddy said that the victims had known each other for the past several years and used to play snooker at a gaming point in Gaddiannaram.

The ill-fated car was registered in the name of Vinayaka’s mother Shyamala.