Road Crash: 3 Bangladeshi students killed in Canada
Three students from Bangladesh died on Thursday morning in a car crash south of Arborg, Manitoba in Canada, reports CBC News Canada.
The deceased were identified as Al Numan Aditta, Aranoor Azad Chowdhury, Risul Badhon, all Bangladeshi students studying at the University of Manitoba.
The three were returning from a trip to see the northern lights early on Thursday morning. A car travelling north on Highway 7 collided with the students' southbound car about 10 kilometres south of Arborg, a town about 115 kilometres north of Winnipeg, just before 6:30am Thursday [6:30pm Bangladesh time], Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told CBC News Canada.
The three students in the southbound car -- Al Numan, Aranoor and Risul -- were pronounced dead at the scene. Police said two of the men were 23, but did not have an age for the third man, the report said.
"It is very devastating to the community," said Tasneem Vali, vice-chair of Manitoba Islamic Association.
A 53-year-old woman who was driving the other car sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a hospital in Winnipeg.
The collision is still under investigation, but alcohol is not considered a factor, RCMP say.
Bangladesh High Commissioner to Canada, Dr Khalilur Rahman, said they have learnt of he tragic deaths and have assigned two officials to look into the matter and arrange repatriation of the dead bodies.
"We are doing whatever we can do," he told The Daily Star by phone yesterday.
'THEY WERE THE EXAMPLE'
Friends and Winnipeg's Muslim community in general were mourning the loss of the three Bangladeshi students.
"They were some of the best people I had ever come across. True mentors," friend Fardeen Zareef told CBC News Canada.
"For the entire community, it's a major loss. We're all in mourning right now because it's a connected community and everyone knew them."
Aranoor was a third-year student studying statistics, Badhon was a hard-working third-year studying accounting and supply chain at the Asper School of Business, and Aditta was "a sweetheart" studying agriculture, said Zareef.
Aranoor and Badhon were the same age as Zareef, but Aditta was "like an older brother" and the best cook Zareef knows, he said.
"We used to call him Chef Pablo," he said, noting that Aditta's nickname was Pablo.
"They were some of the best faces in our community. They were the example," said Zareef.
News of the crash came around 10:30am [10:30pm Bangladesh] time, CBC Canada News said.
The families of the victims were immediately contacted, said Abdul Ahad, president of the Muslim Student Association at the University of Manitoba.
"It took a little time to actually digest the whole situation, because it was a bit unbelievable, [and] in Bangladesh it [was] nighttime," said Ahad.
The Manitoba Islamic Association -- the province's largest Muslim organization -- is handling the funeral arrangements, and offering support, including grief counselling, to anyone who needs it, the report said.
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