Inverness County grieves high school students killed in Mabou crash

Communities in western Cape Breton are coming together in the wake of a two-vehicle crash that claimed the lives of two high school students from Inverness County and a 71-year-old visitor from Utah. 

Police responded to the crash just after 5 a.m. Saturday in Mabou, N.S., and discovered that a car and a pickup truck had collided on Highway 19.

The driver and passenger of the car were pronounced dead at the scene, while a 71-year-old man who was a passenger in the truck died of his injuries shortly after being transferred to hospital.

While RCMP have not identified the teenage victims, community members have confirmed that they are 17-year-old Isaac James Goswell and Duncan Chisholm, whose age is not known.

The two were students at Dalbrae Academy, a high school in Mabou that opened its doors hours after the accident to anyone requiring comfort or support.

‘It’s really ripped through the county’

Shortly after word of the accident spread around Inverness County, organizers of the Whycocomagh Summer Festival cancelled their Saturday activities out of respect for the families.

“It’s really ripped through the county,” Lynn Chisholm told CBC’s Information Morning Cape Breton this week.

She represents the Mabou and Port Hood areas on Inverness County council. 

“Everyone is feeling numb and shocked,” she said. 

Chisholm is not related to either of the deceased students but visited Goswell’s grandparents in Port Hood shortly before speaking to CBC News on Monday afternoon. 

“They live in my village, and I know them, and it’s really hard,” Chisholm said.

“We just have to reach out and be there for them. And it’s not just for the next couple of days, we have to be there for them for a really long time. This is such a tragic time.… And we’ll just keep praying for these families. That’s all we can do right now.”

A GoFundMe page set up by Goswell’s cousin Chloe Harnish to assist his family has already exceeded its goal of $10,000, pulling in nearly double that amount as of 3 p.m. Wednesday. 

“Isaac was a bright light in our lives, full of dreams and a future that was meant to shine,” Harnish wrote on the crowdfunding site. 

“He touched the hearts of everyone who knew him with his kind disposition and love of the outdoors.… We want to honour his memory with the dignity and love he deserves.”

Utah visitors still recovering from injuries

The driver of the pickup truck and his three passengers, all from Utah, were travelling to Inverness, N.S., for a golf excursion at Cabot Links.

Three of the occupants of the truck went to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

According to a social media post by Scott Henry, whose brother Dan is recovering in hospital, the Utah visitors had dealt with flight delays the previous night and, as a result, did not arrive in Cape Breton until the early-morning hours of Saturday. 

Dan Henry and his wife Kelly have a podcast called The Marriage Comeback. She arrived in Nova Scotia with Scott Henry this week and is now at her husband’s side in Sydney.