Family mourns Aldergrove high school grad, 18, killed in Christmas Eve bus crash

Eighteen-year-old Kathy Kim Le boarded a bus in Kelowna on Dec. 24 so she could spend Christmas Day with her parents in Aldergrove, but those plans were forever changed when the bus rolled over on an icy Hwy. 97C near Merritt.

Instead, her family spent Christmas in Aldergrove’s Hoa Nghiem Monastery, praying for the recent high school graduate who was one of four people killed in the fatal bus crash.

“They’re pretty sad,” said Kevin Pham, who is cousins with the victim’s father, Ut Van Le. “The day that we found out that she died, all the family went together to the temple. … We prayed for three hours.”

Le’s parents, both mushroom pickers, are busy planning her funeral for Friday in Surrey, so Pham spoke on their behalf.

Le had been in Kelowna visiting a friend from high school, but was unable to get a flight home because most Kelowna-to-Vancouver planes were cancelled in the week before Christmas due to heavy snow. She spoke with her father one hour before boarding the bus, and he told his daughter he was concerned about her making the trip, Pham said.