Four Maine college students killed in crash after car strikes tree, erupts in flames

(CASTINE, Maine) — Four Maine Maritime Academy students were killed in a car crash after it crashed into a tree and erupted into flames in the town of Castine on Saturday, Main State Police confirmed.

Three other students, including the driver Joshua Goncalves-Radding, were hurt and taken to local hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries, police said.

Main Police identified the victims as Brian Kenealy, 20, of York, Maine; Chase Fossett, 21, of Gardiner, Maine; Luke Simpson, 22, of Rockport, Massachusetts; and Riley Ignacio-Cameron, 20, of Aquinnah, Massachusetts.

Goncalves-Radding, 20, was driving south on Route 166 in a 2013 Range Rover when the vehicle left the road and struck a tree.

Police identified 20-year-old Noelle Tavares of North Falmouth, Massachusetts and 20-year-old Dominick Gecoya of Middleton, Massachusetts, as the two other people hurt in the crash.

In a statement posted on the school’s website, Maine Maritime Academy President Jerry S. Paul confirmed that four of the school’s students died in the crash, saying, “our community is grieving for these young lives and for their families.”

Maine State Police has launched a full investigation into the crash.