Fizza Rizvi and Rehan Tanvir died in fatal car crash

Young lives cut short
Co-workers of Fizza Rizvi and Rehan Tanvir react to the news of their deaths in a multi-vehicle...


May 15, 2008

Co-workers killed in multi-vehicle crash

By CHRIS DOUCETTE AND BRIAN GRAY -- Sun Media



Fizza Rizvi, 18, of Scarborough and Rehan Tanvir, 20, of Mississauga died after being ejected from a car in a violent multi-vehicle crash Tuesday night. (SUN MEDIA/Stan Behal)
Two devastated families at opposite ends of the city shared common grief yesterday -- the loss of young people with a lifetime still ahead of them.

Fizza Rizvi, 18, of Scarborough and Rehan Tanvir, 20, of Mississauga died after being ejected from a car in a violent multi-vehicle crash Tuesday night.

Rizvi, who was to start a hotel management course in the fall at Centennial College, was remembered as a "beautiful and wonderful" girl by a flow of mourners last night who converged on the family's Kingston Rd. apartment.

"She was a ball of energy," Afreen Raza, Rizvi's cousin, said. "She loved music and dressing up -- I still can't believe what happened."

Rizvi's parents were also having a difficult time coming to grips with the news, the girl's aunt Rafat Jafri said.

"They were up until after midnight last night, out in separate cars, looking for their daughter because they didn't know where she was," Jafri said. "Her mother is in total disbelief, she's frantic, I think she just needs to see her daughter."



LATE COMING HOME

The parents became alarmed when Rizvi, the oldest of the couple's four children, was late coming home from work, she said.

Her first job, she was saving money for tuition, Jafri said, adding the family came from Pakistan about a decade ago.

"It wasn't like her not to be home," she said of the recent RH King Academy graduate. "She was usually home by a quarter to nine, so they started to search. It wasn't until the father called 911 after midnight that they found out."

A 21-year-old man offered to give Rizvi and Tanvir -- his co-workers -- a drive from a barbecue in Scarborough, and ended up in a high-speed crash in which police allege alcohol was a factor.

Investigators said witness accounts suggest the man was driving westbound in a Honda Accord at about 120 km/h on Eglinton Ave. E., just east of the Don Valley Parkway -- a 60 km/h zone -- when he suddenly lost control around 8:30 p.m. The Honda jumped the centre median and "vaulted" into oncoming traffic, smashing head-on into a Bell Canada SUV.

The impact pushed the SUV backward into another car before heading into a spin that tossed three unbelted backseat passengers out through the windows, Const. Mig Roberts said yesterday.

Meanwhile, in Mississauga, family and friends of Tanvir were gathered in the Tanvir apartment comforting each other after their sudden loss.

"It's just so unexpected," one close family friend said. "Life is just so short, he was so young."

Tanvir's family -- mom Rahat Yasmin, dad Asif Tanvir, older brother Danish, 24, and little sister Rabia, 11 --moved to Canada from Pakistan about five years ago.

His mom and brother were too upset to talk yesterday and Tanvir's father had gone to St. Michael's Hospital to pick up his son's remains.

Rabia said her family is in shock and having a hard time believing he is dead.

"He was a really nice guy," Rabia said of her big brother, who often played games with her and helped her with her homework.

Though Tanvir was working as a telemarketer at Rogers, he was planning to go back to college for graphic design.

The grief-stricken family will say their final goodbyes to Tanvir today at Makky Mosque on Torbram Rd., north of Steeles Ave. E., around 7 p.m.

After the prayer service, Tanvir will be buried at Brampton Memorial Gardens, which is at the corner of Chinguacousy Rd. and Bovaird Dr.

Police have charged Rehan Riaz, the driver of the Honda, with two counts each of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

The accused, who suffered a sprained ankle in the crash, was taken into College Park courts in a wheelchair yesterday wearing a walking cast on his right foot. He made a brief appearance and was remanded into custody pending a bail hearing May 23.

G2 LICENCE

While he was not legally impaired, investigators alleged alcohol was a factor, Roberts said. He noted Riaz holds a G2 driver's licence.

Under Ontario's graduated licensing system, G2 drivers are not allowed to have any alcohol in their system.

Roberts said there were five people in the Honda who worked together as telemarketers and were on their way home from the barbecue at the Scarborough Bluffs.

A third person thrown from the Honda, Usama Bin Farid, 23, suffered life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition yesterday.

Madeeha Salem, 19, who was buckled up in the front, was in serious condition.

Click here for Full Screen Video: Families Devastated As Funerals Held For Young Crash Victims

Thursday May 15, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

Rehan Tanvir's father clung to hope that he would be able to communicate with his gravely injured son in hospital following a devastating multi-vehicle crash on Eglinton Ave Tuesday night. But when he saw the condition his boy was in, he knew it was too late. On Thursday, Tanvir was buried, as was 18-year-old Fizza Rizvi, both passengers in the same ill-fated car.

"Before going in that room, there was a hope that my son will see me or I can see him, but this couldn't happen," recalled Asif Tanvir outside the Makky Mosque in Brampton. "He was on the artificial machines and machines were doing everything for him, and they told us that there is no chance of survival."

Rizvi's funeral service took place in Pickering, where scores of friends of family members mourned her tragic loss.

"Prayers are needed for her," said cousin Shana Jafri. "She was an energetic, bright, bright young girl. She had a future ahead of her. She's going to be truly, truly missed. She was too young to go."

Both Rizvi and Tanvir were killed Tuesday night when the Honda they were travelling in lost control and crashed into another car on Eglinton near Credit Union Drive.

Police say the vehicle was travelling about 130 kilometres an hour when the driver lost control. The car apparently hit the centre median and careened into an oncoming vehicle.

Rizvi and Tanvir, who weren't wearing seatbelts, were in the backseat with one other person who's in hospital listed in critical condition. All three were ejected. The driver, 21-year-old Rehan Riaz, and a front seat passenger also survived.


Police said alcohol was a factor, but because Riaz didn't blow over the limit he's not facing impaired driving charges. Instead, he's staring down four counts of dangerous driving.

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Click here to see map of accident location

PDF Map:
http://www3.thestar.com/static/PDF/080515_eglinton-crash.pdf

Two people were killed and eight others injure, in a chain reaction accident on Eglinton Ave. E. west of the Don Valley Parkway May 13, 2008

21-year-old faces four charges after two killed and eight injured in horrendous crash on Eglinton near Parkway

May 14, 2008 05:04 PM
Sarah Boesveld
Henry Stancu
Staff Reporters
Josh Wingrove

Driver remanded in custody

A 21-year-old man facing four charges after a fiery crash that killed two of his friends and injured eight others last night will stay in custody until his bail hearing next week.
Rehan Riaz, 21, appeared in provincial court this afternoon sitting in a wheelchair, his right foot encased in a walking cast. His case, which is covered by a publication ban, was remanded until May 23.

Fizza Rizvi, an 18-year-old Toronto woman, and Rehan Tanvir, a 20-year-old man from Mississauga, died when Riaz lost control of his car, setting off a chain of collisions. Police say the vehicle was traveling at more than 100 km/h. Eight other people were taken to hospital, including the man now facing charges.

Speed is thought to have been a factor, police said, adding that all three passengers in the back were not wearing their seatbelts.

Police say a white Honda Accord was westbound on Eglinton at Credit Union Dr., just east of Wynford Dr., around 8:30 p.m. yesterday when it jumped the concrete median. The car struck an eastbound Bell Canada utility van, causing a series of collision.

The Honda spun and three people in the back were thrown from the car onto the road. Rizvi and Tanvir died. The third, a 23-year-old man, is in critical condition this morning, Roberts said.

A 19-year-old woman, who was buckled up in the front seat, was upgraded to serious, but stable, condition this morning.

Eglinton was closed in both directions by the wreckage scattered across all six lanes. Sgt. Allan Finlay of Traffic Services said the speed limit on that stretch of road is 60 km/h.

Yong Sui was driving east on Eglinton when the initial head-on crash occurred before his eyes, sending the Bell van rolling back toward his vehicle.

"I had no time to think, just stop my car," he said.

Sui and his passengers, a man and two women, were unhurt as his car struck the rear of the van.

"I saw the car flying and I said, 'Oh my God,' " said Jaqui Liu, who saw one of the Honda's injured occupants sprawled in the roadway amidst the debris. "I can't remove the image from my mind. I'm still shaking."

The two men in the Bell utility van were uninjured.

Andy Brooks, who took a photograph from his 19th floor balcony soon after the crash, said that he heard a "terrible, terrible crash ... a very quick, multiple crashing sound that almost sounded like one impact."

Emergency service crews arrived very quickly, Brooks said.

Brooks said the relatively un-residential section of Eglinton Ave. E. near the Don Valley Parkway is a fast stretch of road. "There are often accidents, fender-benders," he said. "But nothing like this."

An EMS supervisor said the 10 accident victims were taken to four hospitals. The worst went to St. Michael's and Sunnybrook hospitals, where two were pronounced dead, and the others went to North York and East York hospitals.

Outside the emergency room, a man who identified himself as a childhood friend of two of the injured young men said everyone was still waiting for news on the condition of their friend, Osama Farid, 23.

Riaz is facing four charges - for the deaths and serious injuries to his friends in the Honda. They include two counts of dangerous driving causing death, and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. Riaz, who was wearing a seatbelt, suffered a sprained ankle during the crash and is scheduled to appear in court this morning.

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Agonizing Accident Aftermath: Families Mourn Terrible Loss

Wednesday May 14, 2008
CityNews.ca Staff

When 18-year-old Fizza Rizvi didn't arrive home on time Tuesday night, her parents understandably began worrying. When they turned on CityNews and saw the horrific footage of a devastating six-car crash on Eglinton Ave., their worry began to escalate, and their worst fears became a haunting reality when police later confirmed that their daughter was one of two people killed in the awful accident.

"She died at 9:00pm and we found at 1:00 in the night," said Rizvi's uncle Jafar Jafri. "Her mother is in very bad condition, very, very bad condition."

Twenty-year-old Rehan Tanvir also lost his life.

The tragedy occurred near Credit Union Drive east of the Don Valley Parkway, and a section of Eglinton was closed off for the crash investigation until 5am Wednesday.

"It was like a loud clap of thunder, like a really, really loud, like you ever heard thunder going off like in a rainstorm? Really, really, really loud, loud, loud thunder is what it sounded like," described Marcus Daley at the scene.

Another witness, Jan King, said, "We just saw this car spin out. We saw three passengers on the floor, two girls over there and the other lady over there. We seen another guy over there, and he was lifeless."

Investigators say the Honda the deceased pair occupied with three other friends was travelling about 130km/hr westbound on Eglinton when the driver lost control and struck the centre median, which vaulted the vehicle into the eastbound lanes where it crashed into another car. The Honda then spun out of control and the three backseat passengers, who were not wearing seat belts, were ejected.

A 19-year-old female was riding in the front with the driver, but had her seatbelt on and survived. She's in serious condition.

Rizvi and Tanvir were in the back with another victim, a 23-year-old who also survived but remains in critical condition.

The driver of the Honda, 21-year-old Rehan Riaz of Toronto, managed to escape with his life, but it's his freedom that is now in jeopardy. Police allege alcohol was a factor in the incident, and Riaz has subsequently been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

He suffered a broken ankle in the crash and made a court appearance in a wheelchair Wednesday.


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Family tries to make sense of loss

The family of crash victim Rehan Tanvir, from left, sister Rabia, father Asif and mother Rahat Yasmeen are grieving their loss today after Rehan was killed Tuesday in a crash on the Don Valley Parkway.
By: Louie Rosella

May 15, 2008 02:39 PM -
Rehan Tanvir was many things to many people.

To his father, he was a budding graphic designer. To his 11-year-old sister, he was the big brother who would help her with her homework. To his co-workers, he was the office workhorse.

All these people will gather tonight in Brampton to see Tanvir buried.

The 20-year-old Applewood Heights man was one of two people killed Tuesday night in a devastating crash in Toronto that left eight others injured.

"This is just terrible, so terrible for someone so young with many hopes and goals to die like this," Tanvir's father, Asif, told The News today. "We came here for a better life, not to have this unexpected thing happen.

Tanvir and his co-worker Fizza Rizvi, 18, of Toronto, were heading home from a barbecue at Bluffer's Park in Scarborough when the Honda Accord they were riding in crashed.

Another co-worker, who was driving the Honda, is now facing dangerous driving charges.

The car, police say, was travelling west along Eglinton Ave. in Scarborough at a high speed when it struck the centre median near the Don Valley Pkwy., vaulted into the eastbound lanes and struck a Chevrolet Equinox SUV head-on at around 8:30 p.m.

The Honda then spun around, ejecting Rizvi, Tanvir and a 23-year-old man from the back seat.

"The vehicle then bounced back into the westbound lanes of Eglinton Avenue where it came to rest," Toronto Police Const. Mig Roberts said.

Rizvi and Tanvir died. The 23-year-old is fighting for his life in hospital.

Last night at their Dundas St. E. apartment in Mississauga, Tanvir's shocked family tried to make sense of the tragedy.

Tanvir, an Applewood Heights Secondary School graduate, was "a really nice guy," said his mother, Rahat Yasmin. He had an older brother and younger sister. The family immigrated to Mississauga from a tiny village in Pakistan four years ago.

Tanvir was working at a Rogers Call Centre in Toronto, but was going back to college to study graphic design, Asif added.

Tanvir's funeral will be held Thursday night at the Makky Mosque in Brampton. He will then be buried at Brampton Memorial Gardens.

Police suspect alcohol and speed were factors in the crash, which involved a total of six vehicles.

"This was 100 per cent preventable," said Roberts, of Toronto's traffic services unit.

"It is a tragic story. You have two bright young people who enjoy a barbecue and think that they're going to go home safely ... but that's not the case."

A 19-year-old woman, who was in the Honda's front passenger seat, suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The driver, who police say has only a G2 licence, received a sprained ankle.

The occupants of the other vehicles received minor injuries.

Police believe Rizvi, Tanvir and the Honda's third backseat passenger weren't buckled in.

Rehan Riaz, 21, of Toronto, has been charged with two counts of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Riaz appeared in provincial court Wednesday (May 14). His case, which is covered by a publication ban, was put over until May 23. He remains in custody.

lorsella@mississauga.net
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Crash victim clings to life
ALEX TAVSHUNSKY FOR THE TORONTO STAR
Rehan Riaz, 21, appears in court May 14, 2008, on charges of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. Email story


How the crash happened (.pdf) `When I see his face, I can't think,' father says of son critically injured in collision which killed 2

May 15, 2008 04:30 AM
Daniel Dale
staff reporter

His spine damaged, his face cut in several places, his head, liver, hips and legs injured, Osama Farid, 23, lay unconscious last night in intensive care at St. Michael's Hospital.

Twenty-four hours earlier, a spectacular accident on Eglinton Ave. E. near Credit Union Dr. left two of his co-workers dead and one facing four criminal charges.

His father, Farid Ahmed, 56, sat in a quiet hospital lounge down the hall. Until his son awakens, Ahmed said, he won't feel alive.

"I'm not here mentally. When I see his face, I can't think, I can't ask anything, I can't do anything."

The car's driver, Rehan Riaz, 21, appeared in provincial court earlier yesterday in a wheelchair, his right foot encased in a walking cast. His case was remanded until May 23.

Riaz faces two counts of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

Fizza Rizvi, an 18-year-old Toronto woman, and Rehan Tanvir, a 20-year-old man from Mississauga, died when Riaz lost control of his car, setting off a chain of collisions. Police say the vehicle was travelling at more than 100 km/h. Ten people were taken to hospital.

Police say a white Honda Accord was westbound on Eglinton around 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when it jumped the concrete median and struck an SUV and Bell Canada utility van.

A 19-year-old woman, who was buckled up in the front seat, was upgraded to serious but stable condition yesterday morning.

Since the accident, a steady procession of Farid's family and friends has gathered in the St. Mike's lounge.

Farid's mother wasn't among them.

"She wouldn't be able to come here," Ahmed said. "I didn't want to bring her. She would cry and cry."

Ahmed, who moved with his wife and sons from Pakistan in 2000 and lives in Scarborough, spoke softly, his eyes often downcast, of his "welfare-minded," social son, smiling only when he described the unsolicited favours Farid did for friends and a childhood scouting award.

Doctors have told him that Farid has improved slightly since the accident. However, he will undergo spinal surgery – he has already had a successful operation to repair a lower-body fracture – and doctors will decide if he needs more surgery. His life remains in jeopardy.

"The doctors are doing a great job," said his brother, Sohaib, 25. "But it's hard. Twenty-four hours since the accident, a full day, and there's nothing we can be sure of."

Farid worked as a customer service representative at a downtown call centre. Ahmed said he believed Rizvi and Tanvir also worked there.

Outside the Mississauga apartment building where Tanvir lived, his brother stood stoically, his eyes red and tired as he paced, spoke into his cellphone and greeted family and friends.

He did not want to be interviewed, asking that his family be left alone.

"Now is not a good time," he said.

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Apparently, they were coming back from a bbq and they all worked together. He decided to give them a ride...and to avoid a wreck that was ahead of him...he switched lanes...all three of them at once. And, the speed at which he was going he crossed over the median and hit other cars. And, the poor people in the back literally flew out of the car and died instantly. His gf who was sitting with him up front with a seatbelt on is now paralyzed. One of the boys is very serious and his gf passed away...and another boy's brother passed away in that same car. I hope they learn a lesson from this.

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This is to inform you that Marhooma Fizza Rizvi's barsi majlis will take place on Saturday, April 4th @ Al-Mahdi Centre (CIG), Pickering. Qur'an Khani will begin at 6:30 pm, followed by Salaatul Maghribain and majlis.

All momineen are requested to attend.

For directions:

www.cig.ca