CORONA DEL MAR : 500 Mourn Cousins Who Died in Crash

What began as the agony of three Irvine families became an expression of grief from an entire community Wednesday afternoon when more than 500 friends and family members gathered to bury two of three young men killed Sunday in an Arizona traffic accident.

Childhood friends and cousins Babak (Bob) Dogmetchi, 20, and Arash Ghazinoor, 19, were buried side by side on a breeze-blown hill at Pacific View Memorial Park during a wrenching 2 1/2-hour funeral service.

“They were cousins by birth, yet brothers by nature,” said Hani Talebi, a close friend who spoke during memorial services while hundreds stood outside the filled-to-capacity chapel listening to words of tribute amplified over outdoor speakers.

The two young men emigrated with their families here from Iran in 1981 and were graduates of Woodbridge High School, where they played varsity basketball. They were driving home from the University of Arizona with two Irvine friends Sunday morning when their pickup flipped over on a desolate Arizona highway.

The driver of the truck, Ryan Lemmon, 19, also died. Arizona authorities speculate that Lemmon struck the median and overcompensated, causing the vehicle to roll over. Christopher Peake, 19, is the lone survivor of the crash.

Memorial services for Lemmon are scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at South Coast Community Church in Irvine.

After an hourlong chapel service, men and women wailed in grief at the grave site as the two rug-covered coffins were carried to their final resting places.

Shookeh Ghazinoor and Shayesteh Dogmetchi clung to their son’s coffins as onlookers chanted the young men’s names.