By: Jaclyn Chen <[email protected]>

Freshman Shaail Abbas died Saturday night in a traffic accident in Carmel, along with her mother and two sisters. Abbas was a student at Carmel High School.

Principal John Williams said that the school will offer counseling services for all students and faculty who need them. Students who wish to talk with counselors may request passes from their teachers, according to Williams. Counselors will also be present during Abbas’s classes Monday and Tuesday and will meet with the students who rode her bus.

“People handle (tragedies) in all sorts of different ways,” Williams said. “What’s important for everyone to know is that there is someone to talk to.”

Williams said that the school’s crisis response team met Monday morning to enact its plan. He made the announcement to the entire school this morning.

“We’re going to continue to offer resources, as far as being there for folks,” Williams said. “When someone is missing (the school’s) family, especially in a way as tragic and as final as death, everyone feels it.”

The school’s crisis response team has laid out plans to deal with a variety of circumstances such as this one. The team meets annually to update and review each plan.

According to the Indianapolis Star, funeral services will be held in Houston later this week. Currently there are no local services announced. For more information, go online at www.indystar.com.