Nova Scotia community grieving after teacher, two young students die in crash

PORT HAWKESBURY, N.S. – The superintendent of a Nova Scotia school board said the small, close-knit community was feeling a deep sense of loss Wednesday 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 said many people have been affected by the deaths of the 26-year-old woman and two girls, ages 12 and 13.

“It’s a very sad day for the communities involved,” said Rice in a phone interview. “It’s a very close-knit community and as a result, there are a lot of people affected… It’s a significant loss.”

Rice said the woman was a teacher at Felix Marchand Education Centre, a primary to grade four school, and coached volleyball at Richmond Education Centre, where the two girls attended school. Richmond Education Centre houses classes in grades five to 12.

Rice said they were on their way to a school-sponsored volleyball event in Port Hawkesbury on Tuesday afternoon when the crash happened.

He said 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.

Rice wouldn’t identify the teacher, but said she had been teaching within the school board for a couple of years.

RCMP said officers responded to a four-vehicle head-on collision on Tuesday around 12:40 p.m. on Highway 104 in Port Malcolm, 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.

No one else was injured.

Skinner said it could be several months before the investigation is complete. He said vehicles have been seized for inspection and a collision analyst has been brought in to investigate.

— By Aly Thomson in Halifax.