Indian community in 'deep grief' over fatal crash near Oromocto, N.B.
The three people killed Saturday in a single-vehicle crash near Oromocto, N.B., were related to each other and from Moncton’s Indian community, CTV News has learned.
Nineteen-year-old Navjot Somal and his 23-year-old sister Harman Somal, along with their 23-year-old cousin Rasham Judge, were killed around 9:30 p.m. on Highway 2 in Mill Cove.
Police believe the crash occurred when the vehicle lost a tire, causing the driver to lose control and leave the highway.
The three passengers were ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene due to their injuries.
The driver went to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
The older brother of the two siblings has set up a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to send the bodies of the three family members home to India.
Community member Harsimran Singh told CTV News on Monday they’re all hurting right now.
“Everyone is in deep grief right now after this incident. They were too, too young. They were only 23 at most and everybody is in deep grief right now,” said Singh.
Singh said he didn’t know the crash victims personally, but he does know the older brother.
“He’s in a big shock right now,” said Singh. “He’s not able to talk or discuss anything right now.”
The GoFundMe page states the 19-year-old was in Moncton on a study permit while the two women worked at a Moncton daycare.
As of early Monday evening, more than $75,000 had been raised.
The tragedy comes roughly six weeks after two Indian citizens from Moncton were killed in an accident at Gibson Falls in Elgin, N.B.
A 21-year-old man and 24-year-old man died at the popular swimming spot on June 11.
Singh said their deaths are still fresh on the minds of Indians living in the Moncton area.
“The boys were too, too young for the incident and now this,” said Singh. “It’s not good.”
Singh said the three family members who died on Saturday were being driven to Montreal.
“If these [accidents] keep happening, it’s going to be a big loss to the community, especially in Atlantic [Canada]. We are trying to build up our community and at the same time we’re losing people. It’s not good,” he said.
Singh said there are between 2,000-to-3,000 Indians living in the Greater Moncton area.
For more New Brunswick news visit our dedicated provincial page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
LIVE AT 11 ET Trudeau to announce temporary GST relief on select items heading into holidays
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will announce a two-month GST relief on select items heading into holidays to address affordability issues, sources confirm to CTV News.
'Ding-dong-ditch' prank leads to kidnapping, assault charges for Que. couple
A Saint-Sauveur couple was back in court on Wednesday, accused of attacking a teenager over a prank.
Border agency detained dozens of 'forced labour' cargo shipments. Now it's being sued
Canada's border agency says it has detained about 50 shipments of cargo over suspicions they were products of forced labour under rules introduced in 2020 — but only one was eventually determined to be in breach of the ban.
2 boys drowned and a deception that gripped the nation: Why the Susan Smith case is still intensely felt 30 years later
Inside Susan Smith’s car pulled from the bottom of a South Carolina lake in 1994 were the bodies of her two young boys, still strapped in their car seats, along with her wedding dress and photo album. Here's how the case unfolded.
Genetic evidence backs up COVID-19 origin theory that pandemic started in seafood market
A group of researchers say they have more evidence to suggest the COVID-19 pandemic started in a Chinese seafood market where it spread from infected animals to humans. The evidence is laid out in a recent study published in Cell, a scientific journal, nearly five years after the first known COVID-19 outbreak.
International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Hamas officials
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his former defense minister and Hamas officials, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity over their 13-month war in Gaza and the October 2023 attack on Israel respectively.
REVIEW 'Gladiator II' review: Come see a man fight a monkey; stay for Denzel's devious villain
CTV film critic Richard Crouse says the follow-up to Best Picture Oscar winner 'Gladiator' is long on spectacle, but short on soul.
Alabama to use nitrogen gas to execute man for 1994 slaying of hitchhiker
An Alabama prisoner convicted of the 1994 murder of a female hitchhiker is slated Thursday to become the third person executed by nitrogen gas.
This is how much money you need to make to buy a house in Canada's largest cities
The average salary needed to buy a home keeps inching down in cities across Canada, according to the latest data.