Calgary's Egyptian community rallies behind daughters of parents killed in highway crash

Friends of a Calgary family involved in a fatal highway collision are rallying around the surviving daughters, who remain in hospital after losing both their parents in the Christmas Eve crash.

Mohamed Elkady and his wife Hana Hussein died in the collision near Pincher Creek, according to Calgary Egyptian Association president Shereen Elsayad.

There has been an outpouring of support online from the city's Egyptian community andElsayadtold CBC News she plans to set up a bank account on Tuesday for donations to the couple's three daughters Sara, Salmaand Dina who were all injured in the crash.

• 2 dead in highway crash near Pincher Creek, Alta.

The family was en route to British Columbia when theirminivanlost controland collided with an oncoming SUV, said Saima Jamal, who is friends with the oldest daughter, Sara, 22.

RCMP were called to the site of the collision on Highway 3 just east of Highway 6at about 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 24.

Police said the driver and front passenger of the minivan were declared dead at the scene and road conditions were a factor in the crash.

Jamal said the Elkady family was "very prominent" in the city's Egyptian community and well known for their volunteerism.

"The mom and dad were both volunteers who used to go and do all the translation for the Syrian refugees that lived in the southwest," she said.

"When the parents wouldn't be involved, the kids would be involved in the translation, too."

An uncle to the daughters is trying to obtain an emergency visa to travel from Egypt to Canada and assist the family, Jamal said.