Mourners gathered at West Valley Christian Church and School on Thursday night for a prayer vigil in remembrance of the two teenage girls who died when the Asiana Airline flight 214 crash-landed earlier this week.
Ye Mengyuan and Wang Linjia, both 16, were part of a group of 35 Chinese students slated to attend the Southern Califonia school’s international summer exchange program.
The song "Amazing Grace" was sung in Mandarin at the West Hills vigil, and guests wrote loving notes on banners that will be sent to the homes of the girls' families.
"We really want to reach out to those families," Derek Swales, an administrator at West Valley Christian Church, told NBC4 on Monday.
Two white wreaths decorated the stage in honor of the two teens along with a red wreath representing China, and two empty classroom chairs to memorialize the two slain students.
"Now, we are unsure what their next steps will be...but we are certain that God knows and will help us care for them in this time of crisis. Please join us as we learn how to care for them," the school posted on its website.
The girls were first thought to be headed to Southern California to attend a Christian Bible camp at the school’s church, but church officials clarified that they were not planning to evangelize the foreign students.
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The program would have included a weekend tour of San Francisco, provided English classes and courses on American culture, and sightseeing tours and visits to Southern California universities.
The girls were killed after Asiana Airlines Flight 214 from Seoul, South Korea, crashed and burst into flames at San Francisco International Airport, forcing passengers to jump down the emergency inflatable slides to safety and sending 182 people to the hospital.
The crash is still under investigation.
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