Barring two persons of Indian origin — a student and a professor — two others on the Virginia Tech campus have been accounted for. The worst mass shooting in the history of the United States took place in the campus on Monday.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Sanjay Puri, chairman, USINPAC and a Virginia resident, said he had spoken to several members of the Indian Student Association at the Virginia Tech. After an unofficial headcount, the association said it has been unable to get in touch with the Indian origin student and the professor after the news of the carnage seeped in. He, however, did not reveal the names of missing persons.

“Some students are still locked inside the campus,” said Puri. “We are trying hard to get as many details as possible,” he added.

The BBC has aired the contents of e-mails received from students trapped in the campus . One Indian student, Krishna and his classmate wrote: “We are stuck in the campus library right now and everyone just seems to be in shock. Cops are everywhere. We just heard that 17 people have been shot. It’s been hard to determine what’s true and what’s just a rumour. We can only hope that the shooters are caught soon.”

With more than 25,000 full-time students, Virginia Tech has the state’s largest full-time student population. The school is best known for its engineering school and its powerhouse football team.

The maximum number of foreign students are from India and China. The rest come from 43 other countries.

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