They were "the best of the best," high school French Club members who departed in high spirits from this farm country town for their long-awaited trip to Paris.
Now, their classmates weep and clutch one another for support, holding only faint hope that the 16 students from Montoursville High School had somehow missed TWA Flight 800.Relatives traveled before dawn Thursday to a makeshift morgue in New York, desperate to learn if the group had survived Wednesday's fiery crash in the waters off Long Island.
The teens and five adult chaperones were believed to be aboard the Paris-bound 747 when it exploded in a fireball Wednesday night shortly after takeoff from New York's Kennedy Airport. All 229 people aboard the plane were feared dead.
Because there was no confirmation the French Club group had boarded the flight, school superintendent David Black decided to charter two tour buses to transport parents and other relatives to Long Island.
"The worst part is not knowing," Black said Thursday. "This is hitting all of us here very hard."
The names of the students and their chaperones were not disclosed.
"They are exceptional kids, both academically and socially, the kind of kids you'd like to take home and make your own," said Dan Chandler, principal of the school 120 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
The group - among them, the French teacher, her husband and a school secretary - left by motorcade Wednesday morning for New York, the students bubbling with excitement, Black said. They had raised the money for the 12-day trip by holding fund-raisers through the year.
Nothing was heard from the group before the flight's scheduled 8 p.m. departure - or after.
"They were booked on that flight," Black said. "It's a monumental tragedy."
After the news came, dozens of students and parents rushed to the high school. Its flag was lowered to half staff, and groups of weeping students clutched each other outside, fearing the worst. Lights burned in windows all through the night.
"We have clergy here and counselors to help people deal with grief - and uncertainty," Black said.