3 killed in crash west of Huntley

Three young men were killed and two were critically injured when their car crashed about 3:30 a.m. Saturday west of Huntley.

Ayush Joshi, 20, of Hoffman Estates and Zohair Husain, 18, of Huntley were pronounced dead at the scene.

Kumail Husain, 20, of Algonquin died later at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge.

The driver, Muhammad Jaffrie, 24, of Crystal Lake was in critical condition at St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin.

Henry Onwualu, 19, of Huntley also was in critical condition after being flown to St. Anthony's Medical Center in Rockford.

Kumail and Zohair were brothers who had recently immigrated to the United States. At Huntley High School, where they were both students, the brothers were inseparable and impressed their peers and teachers with their politeness and dedication to their schoolwork.

"They were hand-in-hand, almost like they needed to be together like twins," said Chris Grabner, Kumail's soccer coach at Huntley.

During the 2005-06 season, Kumail was the lone senior on the squad. His coach described him as a religious person who was well-liked.

"Everybody loved the kid," Grabner said.

Grabner said Kumail didn't play much, but that was because he observed the fast during Ramadan, which overlapped with the boy's soccer season.

"He'd come to practice, and he'd just be dragging because he hadn't eaten all day, but he never complained about it," Grabner said.

Grabner, who had Zohair in his Algebra class, described him as quiet and studious -- like his older brother.

"They were looking forward to their future, and you could tell they were working for it," Grabner said.

Kumail graduated in 2006, and his brother followed him a year later.

Onwualu also attended Huntley High School with Kumail and Zohair.

Ayush Joshi was a 2005 graduate of Conant High School in Hoffman Estates, according to yearbooks.

In high school, Joshi was an honor roll student who ran cross country and dabbled in academic clubs. He was a member of the chess and congressional debate teams.

He joined chess as a senior, his coach recalls, and proved himself a good player and a nice kid who enjoyed himself and got along with everyone.

"He was a quiet leader," chess coach Steve Kurfess said. "He never had a bad thing to say about anybody."

The 2003 Infiniti G35 the five men were riding in was westbound on Dietrich Road, between Brier Hill Road and Route 20, just north of I-90, when it left the road and hit a tree, police said.

Jaffrie has been cited for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and for driving too fast for conditions, police said.

The Kane County Sheriff's Department, Kane County Accident Reconstruction Team and the Kane County State's Attorney's Office are investigating the crash, police said.