On Friday, the University community gathered for a candlelight vigil on the Diag to honor two University of Michigan students who were killed in a car accident on I-75 on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 16.

About 1,000 students, faculty and community members attended the ceremony to honor the students and pay their respects at the event organized by the students’ friends and the University’s Chinese Students and Scholars Association.

Ran Xu, a graduate student in the School of Education, and Zhangqin Xie, a graduate student in the College of Engineering, were traveling on a road trip to Northern Michigan with three other students to take in the fall foliage when their car veered off the road and crashed into bushes.

Xu and Xie, both 22 years old, were killed by the impact, while the three other students in the car suffered severe injuries. As of Friday night, those injured are still hospitalized and the cause of the accident is currently being investigated.

The accident that killed Xu and Xie comes in the midst of a recent rash of fatal car accidents involving university students. LSA freshman Heather Comstock died in a car accident on Oct. 10 while driving on U.S. 23 with three other students from Okemos and Williamston, Mich. According to FOX 2 Detroit, University graduate student Ashley Thomas was also killed in a car accident on the Southfield Freeway on Friday.

In the wake of the recent accidents, Diane Brown, Department of Public Safety spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail interview that students need to stay alert, be aware of road conditions and follow all traffic laws while driving in order to ensure their safety.

School of Music senior Siyi Fang, CSSA vice president, said she was glad to see so many students on the Diag paying tribute to Xu and Xie.

While the Facebook event page said there were 32 confirmed guests, about 300 students gathered at 8 p.m. when the vigil started. As the vigil continued, the crowd grew to more than 1,000 individuals as people crowded around the Block ‘M’ and stood in line to receive a lit candle.

In addition to placing candles around the ‘M,’ attendees signed cards that were pinned to bulletin boards in the Diag. Photos of the victims were also placed in the center, alongside a bouquet of roses.

Even after 9 p.m. — the scheduled end of the event — students and community members continued to arrive and light candles for the victims. For many, the shock and the tragedy of the accident were difficult to handle.

University alum Husnah Khan, who shared mutual friends with Xu, attended the vigil after participating in a Jewish religious ceremony. She said the transition from one event to the other made the vigil that much more solemn.

“I just came from the Shabbat celebrations, so going from such a celebratory atmosphere to this is very shocking … it teaches you how mortal you are,” Khan said, adding that she planned to perform a poem about the students during an open mic night at Borders later that night.

CSSA members were pleased with the amount of support and sympathy that the University community showed, according to Fang.

However, Engineering senior Yang Xu, an acquaintance of the victims, said he was surprised by the lack of awareness about the tragedy among fellow University students. He explained that the accident was mostly talked about within the Chinese community.

“I think many American students don’t know anything about it because Chinese students use this Chinese version of Facebook (to communicate) and very few American students have access to that,” he said.

According to a flyer that was printed in Chinese and English, both Xu and Xie were the only children in their families. The flyers asked community members to donate money in an effort to help the victims’ families.

The flyer stated that “Ran had a giving heart,” and that she volunteered as a teacher in less privileged areas in China before she came to the University.