A university in Maine was in mourning Monday after four of its students were killed over the weekend in a burning SUV crash.
The accident involving Maine Maritime Academy students, which remains under investigation by state police, occurred early Saturday morning in the small town of Castine, just a day after classes for the fall semester ended.
A 2013 Range Rover driven by Joshua Goncalves-Radding, 20, of North Babylon, New York, crashed into a tree and caught fire. Goncalves-Radding and two other students survived and were taken to local hospitals.
“Let us mourn these young men in their memory. We will never forget them or this moment in the history of the Maine Maritime Academy,” Jerry Paul, the school’s president, said Sunday night at a candlelight vigil. “They were lost too soon and before their watch was over. We will continue for them and, at the appropriate time, ring eight bells in their honor.”
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The four Maine Maritime Academy students who died in a weekend SUV crash near campus.
(Ethan Genter/The Bangor Daily News via AP)
The dead were identified as Brian Kenealy, 20, of York, Maine; Chase Fossett, 21, of Gardiner, Maine; Luke Simpson, 22, of Rockport, Massachusetts; and Riley Ignacio-Cameron, 20, of Aquinnah, Massachusetts.
The ringing of eight bells is a marine tradition to honor someone who has died.
“Chase was just a fantastic young man, super polite, respectful, a great citizen of our community, student-athlete, and had a lot of great friends who are hurting a lot right now,” Chad Kempton, Gardiner Area High School Principal . , where Fossett attended, he told WMTW.
A group of Maine Maritime Academy students gather around a memorial installed on the school’s campus in Castine, Maine, on Sunday, December 11, to remember four students who died in an SUV crash over the weekend. of week.
(Ethan Genter/The Bangor Daily News via AP)
Lou Goscinski, the superintendent of the York School Department, said in a statement that Kenealy “was an outstanding student athlete who was beloved by his classmates, faculty and staff.
“He took his skills to the Maine Maritime Academy, where he continued to excel academically and on the football field,” Goscinski added, according to WMTW. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Brian’s family, as well as everyone who knew and loved him. Brian will be greatly missed.”
The Maine Maritime Academy is a four-year university that focuses on maritime training with areas of study including engineering, management, science, and transportation.
A memorial to the victims of the Maine Maritime Academy accident.
The tragedy hit the tight-knit community hard. The town of Castine has about 800 to 900 residents, about the same number of students at the Maine Maritime Academy. Some students serve with the local fire department that responded to the scene.
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Maine State Police have not yet released the cause of the crash.
“Due to the severity of the crash, this investigation could take weeks, if not months, to complete,” a Maine State Police spokeswoman told Fox News Digital on Monday.
Associated Press contributed to this report.
