Two young people are now dead, a third undergoing surgery this morning at Royal Columbian Hospital following a two-vehicle head-on crash in Maple Ridge.

The accident occurred on Dewdney Trunk Road near Dunbar Street at about 2:30 a.m. on Sunday involving six people and two vehicles, reported Ridge Meadows RCMP Sgt. Parm Prihar.

"From what I've heard they're local kids," he said.

"It's going to be a huge shock for the community," Prihar added, noting that RCMP victim services members were up all night helping the crash victims and their families deal with the trauma.

Now, he said, the emergency responders are working with the school district and other service agencies to brace for the shock as the news spreads among the local teens who were friends of the crash victims.

While police are still investigating the exact cause of the crash, Prihar said speed is believed to be a factor in the crash that killed a 19-year-old driver of a mini-van, who was pronounced dead at the scene, as well as an 18-year-old passenger from the Honda, who was rushed by ambulance to hospital with critical injuries. She was later pronounced dead at the New Westminster hospital.

A third person, believed to be a young woman, was in the midst of surgery late Sunday morning for a broken leg and other injuries as a result of the head-on, Prihar told The TIMES.

There were three other people also involved in the crash, "and seem to be okay, with just minor injuries," said the RCMP watch commander. He noted there were three people in each of the vehicles.

"We just want the young people to be aware that speed kills," Prihar said. "An innocent young woman has lost her life."

- Stay tuned to the online and print editions of The Times for more on this crash as it comes available