Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson says his community is feeling a combination of shock and grief over the loss of four Royal Military College cadets who died after their vehicle plunged into the water on campus early Friday morning.
The fourth-year cadets were identified as Jack Hogarth, Andrei Honciu, Broden Murphy, and Andres Salek by the RMC’s commanding officer, Commodore Josée Kurtz.
“They come from all over the country, but when they’re here, they’re as much a part of the Kingston community as anyone else,” Paterson said. “We are grieving that loss for sure.”
Paterson, who is an assistant professor at RMC, said two of the cadets were in one of his classes several years ago, but he didn’t know them well. He refused to name them.
He said he hopes there will be a funeral but had no details, saying the university would likely run it. He said that he has offered the full support of the city and that his heart breaks for the families, friends and fellow cadets.
“This is a time for us to come together, to come together with the entire RMC community and everyone who is facing a difficult time right now.”
Former teacher not surprising that cadet decided to serve the country
The cadets were weeks away from completing their Bachelor of Arts degrees. Hogarth and Salek were studying military and strategic studies and planned to become armored officers in the army.
Honciu was studying business administration and was destined to become a logistics officer, and Murphy was majoring in business administration with the intention of becoming an aerospace environmental controller in the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Honciu is being remembered by a former high school teacher as someone quite quiet and shy, but also happy and full of energy.
“He always had a smile on his face and made everyone laugh,” said Richard Oki, who taught Honciu math in grades 9 and 10 at Northern High School in Toronto.
“It was obvious from the beginning in ninth-grade math that Andrei was an amazing student,” Oki said, adding that he hoped Honciu would pursue an engineering career after high school. “His work was always impeccable and he was very smart, not just in math, but in many subjects. So he stood out in class right away.”
Oki said he was devastated by the news, especially since Honciu was only weeks away from graduating. In addition to being strong academically, he was a leader on the school’s soccer team.
“It doesn’t surprise me that he had the courage and the bravery to represent our country,” Oki said.
‘Everyone’s feeling down’: Queen student
Tyson Rudolph, a freshman at Queen’s University, did not know any of the cadets, but he knows other students who attend RMC.
“Everyone feels depressed,” he said. “It’s really sad to hear.”
Kingston resident Doreen Vroegop said she was “in shock” when she heard the news.
“It just broke my heart to hear that these little kids, who worked so hard to get to where they are and their life is just beginning…they just took them away.”
The incident occurred shortly after 2 a.m. Friday at Point Frederick, a peninsula at Canadian Forces Base Kingston that sits between Kingston Harbor and Navy Bay on the St. Lawrence River. The Canadian Forces National Investigative Service, the independent arm of the Canadian Forces Military Police, is conducting an investigation.
Few details have been made public, officials cite the investigation, and several RMC members have refused to speak.
Rory Fowler, a military lawyer and retired lieutenant colonel, said there tends to be a closing of ranks when an incident draws media attention.
“The only way to find out … details about a military police investigation is, in fact, if charges are filed.”
Fowler expects the initial investigation to take weeks. A deeper one, called a board of inquiry, would likely take months, he said.
Reference-www.cbc.ca