Three international students killed in a highway crash in Toronto last week have been identified by the Consulate General of Bangladesh.
Police have said a car travelling at extremely high speeds on Highway 427 flew over a concrete ramp, landed in a ditch and then hit another concrete wall before it burst into flames late Monday night.
Ontario Provincial Police have said four international students from Bangladesh, who were living in Toronto, were pulled from the car.
A 20-year-old man and 17-year-old boy who were sitting in the back seats were pronounced dead on the highway and a 20-year-old woman sitting in the front passenger seat died after being taken to hospital, police said.
The three students who died were Arian Alam Dipto, Shahriar Mahir Khan and Angela Baroi, said Consul General Lutfor Rahman.
Rahman said the 21-year-old driver, Nibir Kumar, is the son of popular Bangladeshi singer Kumar Bishwajit and remains in a Toronto hospital in critical condition.
“The Consulate General expressed sincere condolences to the bereaved family members of the deceased and pray for their eternal peace and for quick recovery of the injured one,” Rahman wrote in a statement.
Rizwan Ibn Ahmed, who identified himself as a friend of Dipto, said he loved food, video games and hanging out with his close friends and family. Dipto had “a very friendly personality, cheering and joyful,” and dreamed of studying outside Bangladesh, he said.
Another friend of Dipto, Sumaiya Tabassum, said on Facebook she was in “shock, utter denial and disbelief” over Dipto’s death as she had wished him a happy birthday just days before.
“It is not fair that you lived a shorter life than me. You were just a baby,” she wrote in a post commemorating Dipto. “You were always there for everyone. Still texting you hoping for a reply from the other side.”
Ayeman Rashid, who identified himself on Facebook as a close friend of Khan, said he was “a very humble guy with manners for everyone.”
A visitation for Baroi was set for Monday evening in Toronto’s west end, while a service for Dipto and Khan is set to be held Monday in the city’s east end.
The victims’ families are working to have their bodies repatriated to Bangladesh after the memorial services, Rahman said in an interview.
Nazia Hossain, vice-president of the National Bangladeshi-Canadian Council, has said all the international students in the car attended different schools in the Greater Toronto Area.
The crash should be a warning for other international students who come to Canada about how road conditions may differ here, especially during the winter, Hossain said.
“I want to tell them you are very young, you should be very careful when you’re driving at night. It’s not the same road conditions in Bangladesh,” she said.
Hossain said the families of the international students are devastated.
“Their parents are in very, very bad condition,” she said, adding that her organization is mourning with the families.
Last winter, a crash on Ontario’s Highway 401 between a car and a tractor-trailer killed five students from India.
Harpreet Singh, Jaspinder Singh, Karanpal Singh, Mohit Chouhan and Pawan Kumar, who were between the ages of 21 and 24, were pronounced dead at the scene. Police have said they all studied in the Montreal or Greater Toronto areas.
— With files from Fakiha Baig.