2 Mount Ida students die in car crash in Newton
NEWTON -- The two Mount Ida College students from Japan had just finished classes Friday and were ready to start celebrating summer, a college official said.
But their lives were cut short early yesterday when the car they were in crashed into an oak about a mile from campus .
Takahiko Nagashima , 23, and Masaki Matsuguchi , 22, were pronounced dead shortly after crashing near the corner of Dedham Street and Woodcliff Road in Newton at 12:49 a.m., police said.
Matsuguchi, a junior majoring in fashion merchandising and marketing, was making arrangements to live off campus for the summer; and Nagashima, who graduated from Mount Ida last month with a bachelor's degree in graphic design, had just completed his last course and planned to return to Japan today, a college spokesman said.
"It's just a devastating event," said Philip Conroy , vice president for enrollment management and marketing at Mount Ida. "We know all of the students here, so it's like losing members of the family."
Most of the college's 1,400 students have left the 72-acre suburban campus on the former Robert Gould Shaw II estate. Conroy estimated that fewer than 20 students remained yesterday afternoon.
Conroy said college staff made counseling services available. Counseling is available to off-campus students via telephone or Internet, he said.
Police said they did not know the students' whereabouts before the accident, but they had stopped at a Store24 before attempting to return to the college. While driving down Dedham Street, Nagashima lost control of his 2002 Acura RSX after entering a curve, causing his vehicle to strike the tree, police and witnesses said.
"Preliminary investigation has revealed that speed was a definite factor in the crash," said Lieutenant Bruce M. Apotheker , spokesman for the Newton Police Department.
The Newton Fire Department used the Jaws of Life and other tools to extricate the men. Nagashima was pronounced dead at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. Matsuguchi was flown to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, where he died.
The silver Acura was crumpled. The crash stripped the bark from the oak , about 50 feet from a 30-mile-per-hour speed limit sign, and near the home plate of a baseball diamond behind the Countryside Elementary School.
Bill Payne , who towed the car to a Newton garage, estimated that the vehicle skidded 100 feet before hitting the tree. He said the damage was the worst he has seen.
Neighbors said they heard a skid and a loud crash followed by an eerie silence before officials arrived.
Some said they were surprised there are not more accidents in the area.
"This is a bad corner," said 66-year-old Jim Kelly , who was house-sitting for a friend.
"They build up speed coming down the hill. If you're not familiar with it, it comes as a surprise."
The young men, who lived with other summer school students in Wingate Hall, were drawn to Mount Ida's popular design school, which has a large population of students from Japan, Conroy said.
Nagashima, whose nickname was "Taka," planned to start a graphic design job in Japan.
"Taka had actually finished his last class for his degree," Conroy said. "He had completed his studies."
This is not the first time Mount Ida has seen tragedy. In the early 1990s, two international students from Ireland also died in a car crash on Dedham Street. A plaque in their memory hangs in Carlson Hall, which houses the college admissions office and the bookstore. Conroy said he walks by it daily.
"To some of our long-standing community members, this is kind of deja vu," Conroy said.
A memorial service will be held after students return to campus this fall, Conroy said. The families of both students are expected on campus soon , Conroy said.
Conroy described Nagashima , and Matsuguchi as outgoing, gregarious students, who were well known on campus.
"They were just really good kids," Conroy said. "They had the whole world in front of them."
Globe correspondent Steven H. Bagley contributed to this report. April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com. 