AJAX -- Students at an Islamic school in north Ajax are “in shock” following an accident that killed two youths and left a third facing charges.

One teen who was killed is from Etobicoke and the other is from Laval, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal.  Both were 15.

The driver of the car, a 14-year-old student at the school, is facing two counts of criminal negligence causing death.

Atif Din, an administrator at the Jaamiah Al Uloom Al Islamiyyah Ontario school on Audley Road North, says students “of course are in shock. We were counselling them personally yesterday. We had two services for the deceased. We’re consoling them.”

The accident happened on Sunday around 10 a.m. when a car travelling at a high rate of speed left the road and crashed through a fence. One of the deceased was ejected from the vehicle while the other was pinned inside the car.

The families of the deceased have been contacted and “they are in shock,” Mr. Din says.

The driver is a day student who came to the school each morning and went home in the evening, Mr. Din states.

“He got the car and picked up his friends. All three left the property and crashed a few kilometres from the school on Audley Road,” he says.

“We have a very strict policy on leaving the property. They have to get written consent from their father. It’s not even allowed a phone call. It has to be in writing from their father. Unfortunately in this case, it was different,” Mr. Din says.

“We’re still in the consoling stage,” Mr. Din adds. “The next time, if this happens again, the student could be expelled without credits.

“There’s nothing more we can do (that) we’re already doing,” he adds. “The most we can do is remind everyone again this is the rule.”

Mr. Din adds the school acts as the “guardian” of the students. “We have to be extra cautious. It has been the strictest rule. It still is.”

Awais has been at the school for “more than four years. He had an attachment to pretty much everything. He’ll be missed greatly,” Mr. Din notes adding both youths had hoped to “become an Islamic scholar.”

In addition to Islamic instruction, the school also offers “secular education here,” Mr. Din says.

He says this is the first time such an incident has happened since the school opened in 1991. There are about 80 students attending, ranging in age from 11 to 20. About half are boarders and the other half are day students.

Ahmed had been at the school for about four or five months, he says.

Students come from “all over North America and some from overseas,” says Abdul Waheed.

Funeral services were to be held on Monday at the local mosques for both boys. Representatives from the school will be attending both services, Mr. Din adds.

“We were there yesterday at the hospital for four or five hours,” he says.

The Durham Regional Police were at the school at about 11 a.m. on Sunday, Mr. Din says.

“A supervisor noticed the site of the accident before the police came. He didn’t know whose car it was,” he adds.

The accused was held for a bail hearing on Monday at the Ontario Court of Justice in Oshawa.

On Monday, the family of the 14-year-old said outside the court that the boy has a broken shoulder, broken ribs and a sore neck.

The 20-year-old brother of the accused said the family saw the boy at the police station in Oshawa yesterday. The brother said the boy complained about his injuries, saying he was in a lot of pain and was still in a hospital gown and had no shoes.