Fire/Rescue News - 10-year-old boy killed, mother injured in Thanksgiving Garden State Parkway crash

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While Khan was not wearing a seatbelt, the boy and his sister were restrained, Polite said.

The unconscious Khan and her two children were taken to AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center, City Campus in Atlantic City. Khan was listed in critical condition Thursday night, a nursing supervisor said.

On Friday, the hospital's nursing director declined to release Khan's condition.

Police are investigating the crash, but Polite said there was no initial indication that alcohol was involved.

While the car has New Jersey license plates, police did not know Thursday night where Khan and her children lived or where they were traveling to or from.

EGG HARBOR TOWNSHIP - Salina Khan's Ontario Avenue home was a picture of tranquility Saturday afternoon. Potted plants lined the porch, and a Chevrolet Avalanche - with an American flag etched into the lettering on the back - sat undisturbed in the driveway.

Neighbors were coping with the fact that the 39-year-old mother of two was lying in critical condition in the intensive care unit of AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center at the same time that her 10-year-old son, Abedin, was being laid to rest in a Cape May County cemetery.

"It was just so sudden. No one knows what happened," Khan's neighbor, Nicole Barr, said of the Thanksgiving night crash that killed Abedin Khan and left his mother with serious head, leg and neck injuries.

According to State Police, Khan was traveling south in the right lane of the Garden State Parkway near milepost 40.7 shortly after 8 p.m. when her car spun off the left side of the road for an unknown reason and crashed into two trees.

Khan's 5-year-old daughter, Deena, suffered a laceration on her face in the crash.

"All she's got is this tiny scratch on her face. That's it," said Barr, who attended the burial services for Abedin Khan on Saturday. "She's so young that all they are telling her right now is that her brother is asleep."

Barr called Abedin "a good kid who was always smiling."

"He was good at basketball," said Barr's 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa. "He had a hoop at his house, and we have a hoop in front of ours, so sometimes we would play each other."

Barr's 9-year-old son, Kevin, shared a bus stop with Abedin.

"He was here when the cops came to their house. So he knew something bad had happened," Barr said. "When he asked if Abedin was coming home, I had to tell him ‘No, honey. Abedin is in heaven now.'"

Neighbors, school cope with loss of child killed in parkway crash

By ROB SPAHR Staff Writer | Posted: Saturday, November 28, 2009 | 5 comments

Egg Harbor Township School District Superintendent Scott McCartney said the staff at the Dr. Joyanne D. Miller School, where Abedin was in fifth grade, are prepared to be asked similar questions when school reopens Monday.

"Unfortunately this is not the first time that we've had to deal with a student loss or an adult loss," McCartney said. "So we've got a pretty solid program to help the teachers, students, families and so on down the line through this difficult time."

McCartney said teachers would likely start the day explaining to students what happened and then answer any questions the students may have. The school also will have grief counselors available to students throughout the day.

"We will be as flexible as possible during the initial stages, but the idea is to maintain their school routine so they can get back to a sense of normalcy," he said.

But with young children, that can be a tough task.

"Loss is difficult for everyone. But the younger the student is, there are different challenges that you face," McCartney said. "For some, this is the first time that they've experienced the loss of someone close to them. And they could be too young to fully understand and grasp what has happened."

Contact Robert Spahr: 609-272-7283  RSpahr@pressofac.com