Catholic schools joined all educational institutions across the country in a special day of mourning today for 44 schoolchildren killed in a road accident on Monday that shocked the nation. The children were killed when a truck they were traveling in skidded off the road into a flooded ditch while they were returning from a football match in the Mirsarai sub-district near Chittagong. Most of the dead were students of Abu Torab High School which was only one and a half kilometers away from the scene of the accident. Twelve survivors remain in critical condition in hospital. At schools across the country today, flags flew at half mast, special prayers were said, and moments of silence were observed for the young victims. The day of mourning was announced by the government yesterday. “We’re in deep sorrow for those students and their families. Today we prayed for those who died and for the speedy recovery of the injured,” said Holy Brother Prodip Placid Gomes, headmaster of St. Placid’s School in Chittagong. Alfred Ronjit Mondol, headmaster of St. Joseph’s High School in Khulna said: “We’re still in shock. We’ve instructed our students to be extra careful when using motorized transport.” At Bottomley Home Girls’ High School in Dhaka the headmistress said the atmosphere at the school was noticeably subdued. “This tragedy that has taken so many valuable lives is really painful. Our students are feeling this pain and are much quieter than on normal days,” Sister Mary Dipti said. Government and law enforcers should be very strict in implementing traffic laws to avoid such misery, the Associates of Mary Queen of Apostles nun added.