Classmates, friends grapple with 'big shock' after deadly crash near Joliette
2 teens killed, 2 others in critical condition after car driven by 15-year-old went off road early Monday
At first, Mathieu Durand didn't want to believe it.
But a day after two of his friends died in a car crash near Joliette, Que., about 70 kilometres north of Montreal, the 16-year-old says he's struggling with the news.
"I was like, 'No, it's not true. [They're] still alive. This is a dream,'" Durand told CBC News on Tuesday.
"But no, it's reality."
A 15-year-old lost control of a vehicle on a curve along Base-de-Roc Boulevard near Joliette and crashed into a tree early Monday.
Two passengers, aged 14 and 17, were killed in the crash.
A 13-year-old and a 16-year-old are in critical condition in hospital, while the driver of the car sustained minor injuries.
Police say speed was a factor in what happened, but they have not confirmed how fast the vehicle was going when it crashed.
CBC News obtained this video taken earlier this fall of some of the Lavaltrie teens involved in the Oct. 9 fatal crash.
'A big shock'
Philippe Bernard, 16, said he knew all five of the passengers in the car.
He said he played hockey with some of them and saw the others around Lavaltrie, a small town near Joliette.
"It's a big shock to see them like that, to see that they're gone," Bernard said.
His hockey team observed a minute of silence at centre ice during practice on Monday to remember the victims, he said.
"We'll definitely take a lesson from this," he added.
The Lavaltrie municipal administration said it would lower its flag to half mast "in memory of those that have gone and in support of those still fighting for their lives."
The Lavaltrie Soccer Club said it was "a sad day" for the club and the five families directly affected by the crash.
"There are no words to describe the pain of each of these families," the group said in a Facebook post.
Students prepare to go back to class
Staff at École de la Rive in Lavaltrie, the high school most of the teens involved in the crash attended, held a meeting on Tuesday to prepare for the return of the high school's 544 students on Wednesday.
Monday was a holiday and Tuesday was a pedagogical day at the school.
Three psychologists and one psycho-educator will be there to help students deal with their emotions, said Diane Fortin, a spokesperson for the Commission scolaire des Samares.
"Lavaltrie is a small community. Everyone knows everyone else.… Everyone is shaken by this tragedy," Fortin said.
Social workers will also be at the Maison des Jeunes de Lavaltrie on Tuesday evening to offer their support to young people who drop by the youth centre.
Durand said he expects the school will organize a moment of silence to remember the victims, as well.
"It's going to be strange," he said, to go back to school without his friends.
With files from Simon Nakonechny