By Associated Press
Rochester, NY – Five high school girls who graduated together less than a week ago have died in a fiery head-on collision near Rochester.
Their SUV swerved into oncoming traffic Tuesday night and hit a tractor-trailer, the Ontario County Sheriff's Office said. Both vehicles caught fire.
The crash knocked down utility lines and cut phone service in the western half of Ontario County. The truck driver, David Laverty, 50, of Olean wasn't injured.
The victims were pronounced dead at the scene, deputies said.
Principal David Paddock of Fairport High School said four of the girls were members of the cheerleading squad - Bailey Goodman, Hannah Congdon, Meredith McLure and Sara Monnat - and he identified the fifth as Katie Shirley. All five graduated Thursday.
"It is with overwhelming sadness that I inform all of you that five of our children, all of whom just graduated from FHS last Thursday evening, lost their lives earlier tonight in a car accident," Paddock wrote in an e-mail sent to parents early Wednesday.
Four friends were following in another car when the SUV crashed, Paddock said. They were heading to a cottage in the Finger Lakes.
Dozens of students, teachers and parents, some hugging and weeping, gathered Wednesday morning on a hillside overlooking the school.