Some unfortunate combinations of events and decisions will likely haunt many of the victims families for a long time to come in the August 24 Abbotsford accident tragedy in which a pickup truck drove right into a 'jaago' procession of about 30 Indo-Canadians from the back on a dark rural road, Lefeuvre Road near the King Road crossing, leaving six dead and 17 injured:
* According to Avtar Mahil (the father of the bride, Harsimran), the "Nanka Mail" celebration (traditionally held for guests from the mother's side) had wrapped up and he had gone to bed by 10 p.m. when most of the 150 guests had left. However, someone suddenly decided to hold a "Jaago" procession to the nearby house of a very close family friend, Shamsher Mahil, and the accident occurred when the procession was headed back.

* Then, the truck with flashers that was supposed to tail the procession was just turning around in the family friend's driveway to head towards it when the pickup truck driven by a 71-year-old Indo-Canadian suddenly appeared and plowed into the group.

* Also, according to Avtar Mahil, his wife didn't want to drink juice and asked for some water as the procession left his close friend's house, so she got delayed. Otherwise, she might have been among the first to be hit by the truck. On the other hand, his younger brother, Balbir Mahil's wife, Satwinder Kaur, who was in the procession, got killed.

* Avtar Mahil, a well-established blueberry farmer, also told The VOICE at his house at 1613 Lefeuvre Road on Wednesday that Ripudaman Singh Dhillon, one of the six killed, happened to be visiting his sisters in the United States and so came along to the wedding. Now his body would be flown back to India.

So it will be natural to ponder on the many "if's" even as the healing process gets underway after Sunday's (September 2) funerals.

The families of the bride, Harsimran Kaur Mahil, 22, and the groom, Jarnail Singh Grewal, decided to go ahead with a simple wedding in Mission gurdwara last Sunday, although the reception was cancelled.

Avtar Mahil was still in a daze when I met him at his Abbotsford house on Wednesday. He pointed to the spot where five tents had been put up to entertain about 150 guests for the traditional "Nanka Mail" celebration on Friday night last week. He said he went to bed at 10 p.m. when the party was over and most guests had left because he had to go to the airport early in the morning to pick up some guests.

He said he slept right through the whole incident, and no one woke him up. The next morning, as he exited his house and turned right towards King Road, he saw a police barrier but the police let him through and he didn't bother to inquire about it. When he returned from the airport about 9 a.m., the police barrier was still in place, but it still didn't strike him as unusual.

However, when he entered his home, his niece, Nisha Mahil, came crying to him, hugged him and said: "Mom is no more." He was stunned as he did not know of the impromptu Jaago procession to his close friend's house nearby. He said: "We had already celebrated here before I went to sleep. They made their own plan suddenly to go to my friend's place."

He said his friend, Shamsher Mahil, and he had studied together and were also neighbours in Mahil Gaila village in Nawan Shahr district of Punjab in India.

At Shamsher Mahil's house, I met 11-year-old Jas Mahil who was still limping as a result of the injuries he sustained in the accident. Jas, who showed the bruises on his arms, legs and face, told The VOICE that about 30 people from the celebration had come to his house where they danced for about half an hour before heading back. There were two "jaagos" (the traditional set of lights carried on the head in the joyous ceremony that is meant to inform neighbours about the good news of a wedding), one on either side of the procession. He was in the front part of the procession and so wasn't directly hit by the truck. He said he was hurled down by a crush of bodies. There was screaming and shouting.

A hundred steps down the road from his house, bouquets of flowers and cards still marked the spot where the accident occurred. A deep ditch runs along the side. Many victims had been thrown into it by the massive impact of the out-of-control pickup that plowed into the procession.

Abbotsford Police Constable Casey Vinet said last Saturday that at 11:15 p.m. "the Abbotsford Police Department, the Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service and the B.C. Ambulance Service responded to a report of multiple pedestrians struck in the 1700-block of Lefeuvre Road."

He said: "As the group walked southbound on the roadway, a 1981 Chevrolet pickup drove into the crowd from behind knocking several into a ditch and pinning others under the truck. As a result of this tragedy six people died at scene and 17 others were transported to area hospitals for injuries ranging from minor to serious in nature … Given the magnitude of this incident, 14 area B.C. ambulances, including two medevac helicopters from Vancouver Airport, were called to the scene to transport the injured. Abbotsford Police called in an additional 10 officers to respond to this tragedy including three collision analysts and several more victim services workers. This tragedy is being investigated by the Abbotsford Police Detective Office and the B.C. Coroners Office."

He also said: "The Abbotsford Police Department would like to express its sympathy to the families and those who have been affected by this terrible tragedy. I have been told by one of our senior officers with over 20 years experience that this is the most difficult scenes that he has ever witnessed. Our condolences go out to all those who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy."

He said that the 71-year-old driver of the pickup had been questioned and released without charges. He added: "Alcohol and drugs have been ruled out."

The Fraser Health Authority said they had declared a Code Orange that affects all their hospitals. Seven local hospitals attended to the survivors. Among the injured were babies.

Mahil told The VOICE on Wednesday that many victims were still in hospital.