Two Indiana high school students on their way to the prom over the weekend were killed in a car crash that three other students survived.
The dance was immediately canceled after the accident which happened about 5:15 p.m. Saturday in Arcadia, about 40 miles north of Indianapolis, according to reports citing Hamilton County sheriff spokesperson Ryan McClain.
The cause is under investigation, but there were no signs that drugs or alcohol played a role in the collision that killed Kalen Hart, a senior at Hamilton Heights High School, and her date Lendon Byram, an honor student at Cathedral High School, who were pronounced dead at the scene.
Reports said Byram, a junior on his school’s speech and debate team, was driving the car and Hart was in the front passenger seat when a second vehicle T-boned them at Lacy Road and 281st Street.
Authorities have not indicated how fast the second vehicle was traveling.
They were riding with two other students in the back seat who were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the other vehicle involved, also a high school student on his way to the dance, was not injured and declined medical attention, McClain said.
There were no reports that charges would be filed.
No other vehicles were involved.
Authorities are still trying to determine what led to the crash.
“It is with deep sadness and a heavy heart that we have been informed that two students involved in this accident died from their injuries,” school administrators at Hamilton Heights posted on Facebook on Saturday night. “At this time all scheduled prom activities will be canceled.”
Both students who died were popular and well-liked among their peers, according to reports.
Hart was planning to attend Indiana University Kokomo, according to those who knew her on social media.
Grief counselors were planning to be at both schools throughout the week.
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