PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. — The superintendent of a Nova Scotia school board says the small, close-knit community is feeling a deep sense of loss after a teacher and two young students died in a four-vehicle crash on their way to a volleyball event.
Ford Rice of the Port Hastings-based Strait Regional School Board says many people have been affected by the deaths of the 26-year-old woman and two girls, ages 12 and 13.
Rice says the woman was a teacher at Felix Marchand Education Centre and coached volleyball at Richmond Education Centre, where the two girls attended school.
He says they were on their way to a volleyball event in Port Hawkesbury on Tuesday afternoon when the crash happened.
Rice says students were invited to ask questions and share their thoughts during home room classes Wednesday, and officials were also providing support and counselling services in private settings.
RCMP say officers responded to a four-vehicle head-on collision on Tuesday around 12:40 p.m. in Port Malcom, about 20 kilometres outside of Port Hawkesbury.
Const. Mark Skinner says a 26-year-old woman and 12-year-old girl, both from Louisdale, died at the scene, while a 13-year-old girl from Mexico was taken to hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Photo: AARON BESWICK / Truro Bureau