A California teen who missed a Memorial Day trip with his friends is now coming to grips with how close his life came to ending.
According to an Associated Press report, 17-year-old Tamer Mosallam’s friends were the teens that died in a fiery Memorial Day car crash in Los Angeles. The teens, who have now been identified, were all students from the Irvine Unified School District.
Police now believe they have pieced together some of the details of the deadly crash. 17-year old Abdulrahman Alyahyan was reportedly driving the car in Newport Beach on Monday when it hit a tree in the road median. The force of the impact split the car in two, and one half of what remained caught fire. Four of the passengers were thrown from the car and died at the scene. One of the teens was only partially thrown from the vehicle, and died after being taken to a nearby hospital.
The other passengers in the car included 17-year-old Cecilia Zamora, 17-year-old Nozad Al Hamawendi, 17-year-old Robin Cabrera, and 16-year-old Aurora Cabrera. The Cabreras were sisters.
Mosallam told the AP that he was to have been the sixth passenger in the car, to make the trip a triple date. His father, however, would not let him go because he was studying for a test.
Irvine Unified School District Superintendent Terry Walker this week issued a statement on the deaths of the students, calling the tragedy an “unimaginable loss.” From the statement:
Our community bears an unimaginable loss today as we mourn the passing of five students who were tragically killed on Monday in a horrific car accident.
There are simply no words to convey the sorrow felt by our students and staff, nor are there sufficient answers to explain the loss of five vibrant teenagers from our schools and this community.
On behalf of the entire organization, our thoughts and prayers are with the families and loved ones of each of these young men and women. We will do everything possible to help our schools cope with this tragedy in the emotional times ahead.
