Members of Canada’s Indian community were in mourning on Monday after five students died in a collision between a van and a tractor-trailer on Ontario’s Highway 401 on the weekend.
Harpreet Singh, Jaspinder Singh, Karanpal Singh, Mohit Chouhan and Pawan Kumar, all students from India between the ages of 21 and 24, were pronounced dead at the scene of Saturday’s crash. Police said they all studied in the Montreal or Greater Toronto areas.
A spokesman from Canada College, a Montreal school that caters to international students, said at least three of those who died and one of two injured survivors studied at the school.
John David Couturier said the school administration is devastated by the loss and is scrambling to support students and arrange to send the victims’ bodies back to India.
“We’re all a state of shock,” he said. “I can only imagine the families in India, they’re so far away, and now there’s two students in the hospital that don’t have their families here.”
Couturier said most of the victims associated with the school had been studying business administration. He did not name the students, saying the school would provide more information once it was sure families in India had been contacted. He said police were still working to confirm whether a fourth fatality had also been a student of Canada College.
1:52 Three students killed in Ontario crash attended school in Montreal
Three students killed in Ontario crash attended school in Montreal
The passenger van with eight people aboard was travelling west on Highway 401 Saturday morning when there was a collision with a tractor-trailer at around 3:45 a.m. near Quinte West, Ont., Ontario Provincial Police said.
OPP spokeswoman Maggie Pickett said Monday that police believe the van was stopped by the side of the highway when the crash occurred. The investigation into the crash is continuing, and no charges have been laid.
One passenger who had exited the van as well as the tractor-trailer driver were uninjured, Pickett said, while two of the van’s occupants were taken to hospital in serious condition.
It’s unclear where the students were heading, but Couturier said it’s common for Canada College students to travel frequently between Quebec and Ontario because the week’s classes are condensed over two or three days.
He said about 70 per cent of the school’s 2,500 students are from India, and they tend to form close bonds as they work their way toward graduating and obtaining permanent residence.
“Many of them are from Montreal, some of them are from Belleville, Brampton, Ontario,” he said. “And so they’ll come for the weekend classes and stay at a friend’s house or whatever. It’s really a community, you know?”
Dr. Shivendra Dwivedi, who heads an organization called Canada India Global Forum, said the community is shaken by the loss.
“We’re very sad with this tragedy, and we feel very, very bad for the families and the students that lost their lives,” he said. “It’s a horrible tragedy, and I think the community is grieving.”
Dwivedi said his group was mobilizing resources to provide grief counselling for the victims’ friends in Canada.
While he didn’t know the victims personally, he said many Indian students who come to Canada to attend private colleges in the hopes of gaining permanent residency are young and far from their support systems.
“They’re doing it because they want a chance to come to Canada _ really hard-working, very dedicated students trying to make a better life for themselves,” he said.
He said his group is also working with officials in Toronto and Ottawa to ensure the wishes of the families in India are carried out.
Couturier said Canada College has offered to repatriate the bodies to India and pay the cost of its students’ funerals.
VANCOUVER – Prince Harry is in Vancouver for the launch of a campaign to raise awareness of the Invictus Games among children and youth, one day after surprising Canadian football fans by appearing at the Grey Cup in the city.
The prince visited Vancouver-area elementary and high school students at Seaforth Armoury.
The visit comes as the Invictus Games launches a lessons program for students from kindergarten to Grade 12, making educational resources on the event’s history and purpose available online.
Prince Harry founded the Invictus Games for wounded, injured and sick veterans and other service personnel about a decade ago, and the games will next be held in Vancouver and Whistler in February.
After meeting the students and engaging in a short game of sitting volleyball on the floor of the armoury, Prince Harry told the crowd the school program could help the Invictus Games “go even wider” and “into schools in Canada and hopefully around the world.”
The prince made a surprise appearance at the Grey Cup game at BC Place Stadium on Sunday, waving to the crowd and giving an interview before joining B.C. Lions owner Amar Doman on the field.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Environment Canada is warning about an intensifying storm that is expected to bring powerful winds to Vancouver Island and the British Columbia coast this week.
Matt MacDonald, the lead forecaster for the BC Wildfire Service, says models predict “explosive cyclogenesis,” which is also known as a bomb cyclone, materializing Tuesday night.
Such storms are caused by a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure at the centre of a storm system that results in heavy rain and high winds.
MacDonald says in a social media post that B.C. coastal inlets could see “hurricane force” winds of more than 118 km/h and create waves up to nine metres off Washington and Oregon.
Environment Canada posted a special weather statement saying the storm will develop off the coast of Vancouver Island on Tuesday, bringing high winds and heavy rain to some areas starting in the afternoon.
It says the weather system may cause downed trees, travel delays and power outages, adding that peak winds are expected for most areas Tuesday night, though the severe weather is likely to continue into Wednesday.
B.C. has been hit by a series of powerful fall storms, including an atmospheric river that caused flash flooding in Metro Vancouver in mid-October.
A lightning storm overnight and early Monday covered parts of Metro Vancouver in hail.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 18, 2024.
This will allow CBP to enhance border security while facilitating legitimate cross-border trade and travel. CBP officers will be deployed to busier ports of entry, enabling the agency to use its resources most effectively for its critical national security and border security missions.
These adjustments formalize current operating hours that have been in effect for more than four years at 13 ports of entry across the northern border, with eight ports of entry expanding hours. A small number of ports will see reduced hours in an effort to continually align resources to operational realities. Travelers who use these affected crossing locations will have other options within a reasonable driving distance.
Importantly, these adjustments have been made in close coordination with CBSA, to ensure aligned operational hours that further enhance the security of both countries.
CBP continually monitors operations, traffic patterns and volume, and analyzes the best use of resources to better serve the traveling public. CBP will remain engaged with local and regional stakeholders, as well as communities to ensure consistent communication and to address concerns.
The vast majority of the 118 northern border ports of entry will continue to operate at existing hours, including many with 24/7 operations. Locate ports of entry and access border wait times here.
The following are the new permanent POE hours of operation for select New York POEs:
Chateauguay, NY new hours of operation – 6 am to 6 pm
Trout River, NY new hours of operation – 6 am to 6 pm
Rouses Point, NY new hours of operation – 8 am to 8 pm
Overton Corners, NY new hours of operation – 6 am to 10 pm
Again, these changes will go into effect beginning at midnight, January 6, 2025.
Below is a listing of each location with the closest border crossing that will remain open 24/7 for appropriate commercial and passenger traffic:
Chateauguay, NY – closest 24/7 port: Fort Covington – 27 miles
Trout River, NY – closest 24/7 port: Fort Covington – 11 miles
Rouses Point, NY – closest 24/7 port: Champlain – 8 miles
Overton Corners, NY – closest 24/7 port: Champlain – 5 miles
For additional information or to contact a port of entry, please visit CBP.gov.
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For more on Customs and Border Protection’s mission at our nation’s ports of entry with CBP officers and along U.S. borders with Border Patrol agents, please visit the Border Security section of the CBP website.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @CBPBuffalo @DFOBuffalo and @USBPChiefBUN
