Four Lebanese students studying in California have died in a high-speed car crash on Wednesday, May 22nd, in the wee hours of the morning. They were coming back from a suhur banquet they were invited to.
The four young men have been identified as Hussein Saleh, Hussein Saab, Hussein Ghasham, and Hussein Ayoub, all hailing from the Lebanese southern town of Yaroun. They were studying at a university in California and were observing Ramadan, in which Muslims fast throughout the day until the sun goes down, where they then feast throughout the night.
The young men finished their suhur, which is Ramadan meal before the day of fasting starts at sunrise, and headed back home at around 3 a.m. to catch some sleep before resuming their usual daily activities. Their BMW sedan was speeding down the highway when the driver lost control of the vehicle and slammed into a pole in Southgate, a city within Los Angeles County.
The impact was so strong that the car wrapped around the pole, and the engine was ejected from the car into a nearby ditch, according to the local ABC affiliate.
According to an eyewitness, they were racing another vehicle, but this is still under investigation by the local police department.
“We can confidently say that speed played a factor in this collision,” a California Highway Patrol sergeant said at the scene via the local NBC affiliate. “We have significant… skid marks indicating the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed just due to how long those skid marks are.”
The four Lebanese students ranged in age from 20 to 24, and their young lives were cut dramatically short. Sadly, it is not uncommon for accidents of this kind to occur in the early hours of the morning on highways, and usually speed is a predominant factor.
It is an extremely tragic loss, especially with such young men, and this accident serves as another reminder to us all to drive responsibly on roadways. May their souls rest in peace, and our hearts go out to their families with our sincere condolences.
