A small community near Collingwood, Ont. is mourning the deaths of four local teenagers killed in a horrific car crash Friday that also left a fifth teen in a coma.

Hundreds of friends, family and classmates of the popular and outgoing boys consoled each other and shared memories in community churches over the weekend.

"It's really hard to put the level of sorrow that is surrounding us into words,'' said Mayor Ellen Anderson. "It's impossible to describe.''

A number of small rural and urban communities make up the Town of Blue Mountains, which has a population of about 6,000. The town is about two hours north of Toronto.

"We're reeling,'' Anderson said. "You wake up and you think you are in a dream, or a nightmare, and you are hoping you will wake up and it will all go away.

"Unfortunately, for the families and the hundreds of people involved with the connection with all those families . . . the whole community is very, very sad.''

Michael Fleming, Drew Perry, Andrew McKean, all 16, and 17-year-old Morgan Fitzgerald were killed Friday afternoon after the SUV they were travelling in slid into the oncoming lane of Highway 26, near Meaford, and was "T-boned" by an oncoming cargo van.

The driver of the SUV, 17-year-old Michael O'Hara, is in a coma at Toronto's Sunnybrook Hospital in critical condition.

The driver of the van, 60-year-old Rodney Gibbons of Meaford, was treated for non life-threatening injuries.

Police say speed and road conditions may have been factors in the crash, and that at least two of the teens were not wearing seatbelts.

The five teens are all students at Georgian Bay Secondary School in Meaford. Grief counsellors will be at the school on Monday.

Anderson said the students' peers are having a difficult time accepting the deaths.

"The kids are trying to wrap their heads around the whole thing,'' she said. "They are dealing with it the best that they can by getting together and talking and sharing memories and just trying to understand.''

Bob Lay, minister of the Blue Mountain Community Church, called the boys "all outstanding young individuals."

"Some of them had known each other for a long time and were very close," Lay told the Toronto Sun.

"These fellows were well-known and well-loved ... They were full of life."

Ontario Provincial Police say they are continuing their investigation and will provide more information at a news conference on Monday.

With files from The Canadian Press