Hooped Up

Mourners dressed in red began filling an arena in Bathurst on Wednesday for the funeral of seven teenage boys who were killed in a highway accident in northern New Brunswick last weekend. People began arriving at the arena — some clutching flowers — hours before the start of the service on a bright sunny day.

Across the province, students were asked to wear red to remember the boys, who played on Bathurst High School’s senior varsity basketball team. The Bathurst High Phantoms wear red and black jerseys.

The arena can accommodate about 4,000 people and inside seven coffins are lined up in front of a raised stage.

The caskets are covered with a spray of flowers and a large photo of each boy sits at the head of the coffins, along with their team number.

Traffic was backed up as thousands are expected inside and outside the arena to honour the boys.

A message of sympathy to the people of Bathurst from Pope Benedict will be read by Msgr. Valery Vienneau, Bishop of Bathurst, during the funeral.

The seven boys, aged 15 to 17, died instantly when the van they were travelling in slammed into an oncoming transport truck on an icy highway near Bathurst shortly after midnight on Saturday. They were coming back from a game in Moncton.