Grieving Students Mourn Victims of Mountain Car Crash : Tragedy: Classmates sing Armenian prayers for two youths who were killed and three others who were injured when their vehicle plunged off Angeles Crest Highway.

As the smoke of burning incense drifted skyward, sobbing students sang Armenian prayers in a Crescenta Valley High School parking lot Tuesday, performing an Armenian funeral ritual called khoung for two classmates killed in a mountain car crash.

Sevag (Steve) Cholakian, 15, of Montrose and David Gevorkyan, 14, of Glendale, both sophomores, died Monday when the car in which they were riding hurtled off Angeles Crest Highway, officials said.

The driver, Malineh Martussian, 19, of Glendale was in critical condition Tuesday, and Suzan Guluzian, 15, of La Canada Flintridge was in serious condition.

They were rescued after the fifth passenger, Polek Aladadyan, 14, of La Crescenta crawled 500 feet up an embankment--with a broken pelvis--to get help, officials said.

The victims were students at the La Crescenta high school. The accident and deaths jolted the tightknit community, which has a large population of Armenian immigrants.

Students brought incense for the khoung ritual to school Tuesday morning. Armenian tradition holds that the burning incense carries mourners’ sorrow and prayers to the deceased in heaven. “The smoke takes up whatever we say to them,” said Alex Mousaian, 17, a junior. The ritual “makes everyone love each other much more.”

As counselors from the community offered help, students walked to class, sobbing and holding hands. “I just can’t believe it. From all that smiling (before the accident), she’s lying there in critical condition,” Sally Baghdasarian said about her friend Martussian, who is unconscious at County-USC Medical Center.

The students had skipped school Monday to celebrate several birthdays, including that of Suzan, who turned 15 on Tuesday. They drove into the San Gabriel Mountains that rim Pasadena, Glendale and the Crescenta Valley on the north, CHP Officer Bob Shepard said.

Malineh, a senior, was driving west through Angeles National Forest about 46 m.p.h. on a 55 m.p.h. section of Angeles Crest Highway when she lost control of the car near the Mt. Wilson turnoff road, CHP Sgt. Ralph Elvira said.

“At that point, the road is virtually carved out of the side of the hill,” said Terry Ellis of the U.S. Forest Service. “We caution people to be very safety conscious when they drive, but it’s a road that can get you into trouble if you’re not paying attention.”

The car drifted onto the dirt shoulder of the road, skidded back across the highway, struck a concrete lip alongside the pavement and rolled over, hurtling 500 feet down the side of the mountain, Elvira said.

Sevag, in the rear seat, was not wearing his seat belt and was thrown from the car. Both passengers in the front were wearing seat belts, but David, riding in the passenger seat, was killed and Martussian was knocked unconscious.

The wreckage, far down the hillside, could not be seen from cars on the road above and the dead and injured teen-agers might not have been found for days, officials said.

But Polek, who had been in the middle of the back seat, crawled out of the car despite her broken pelvis and began to climb the steep embankment, Elvira said. It took her almost four hours of pulling herself up to reach the top, Elvira said.

“If they had stayed up there when it got colder they could have suffered further injuries,” Elvira said.