Three international students killed in fiery single-vehicle crash on Hwy. 427

Provincial police have identified three people killed in a single-vehicle rollover crash on Highway 427 in Etobicoke earlier this week.

OPP Sgt. Kerry Schmidt says the four occupants of the vehicle were international students from Bangladesh who were living in Toronto on a study permit.

The three deceased were passengers in the car and have been identified as a 20-year-old male, 20-year-old female, and 17-year-old male. The driver, a 21-year-old male, remains in the hospital in critical condition.

Schmidt says the names of the victims are not being released at this time.

The crash occurred on the southbound Highway 427 ramp to Dundas Street around 11:30 p.m. Monday.

Emergency crews responded to the scene after getting reports of a rollover and a vehicle fire. Police say a car was travelling at “extreme high rates of speed” on the ramp when it left the road, vaulted into a concrete wall, and ended up back on the ramp, where it burst into flames.

All four occupants had to be extricated from the burning vehicle by fire crews.

The two people sitting in the back of the car were pronounced dead at the scene. The front female passenger was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The exact cause of the crash is still being investigated. Anyone with information is being asked to call the police.

Bangladeshi Canadians mourning international students’ deaths

Nazia Hossain, the vice president of the National Bangladeshi-Canadian Council, said the driver is the son of a popular musician in Bangladesh, and all the international students in the car went to different schools in the Greater Toronto Area.

“It is a very sad story. It is a great loss,” Hossain said Wednesday in a phone interview.

“The one who is driving … I hope he recovers and he’s back to his normal life.”

Hossain said the families of the international students are devastated.

“Their parents are in very, very bad condition,” she said, adding that her organization is mourning with the families.

The crash should be a warning for other international students who come to Canada about how road conditions may differ here, especially during the winter, Hossain said.

“I want to tell them you are very young, you should be very careful when you’re driving at night. It’s not the same road conditions in Bangladesh,” she said.

With files from Fakiha Baig of The Canadian Press