Melba (Idaho) High School students grieved last week at the news that two schoolmates and their adult adviser were among those killed in the Nov. 15 crash of a Continental Airlines flight taking off from Denver bound for Boise.
The students and the adviser were part of a group of six students and two teachers from the school returning from a convention of the Future Farmers of America in Kansas City. All told, 27 died in the crash.
Two of the five survivors among the Melba group remained hospitalized in critical condition late last week; the other three were released earlier.
Jim Potter, principal of the small rural school, said that a memorial service for the crash victims was to be held on Nov. 23 at the school, and that funeral services were to take place last weekend.
With the six students on the flight constituting nearly one-fifth of Melba High School’s senior class, the crash has stunned the entire student body, Mr. Potter said.
Federal investigators were saying late last week that pilot error and icing of the plane’s wings may have caused the crash.--jw