RCMP say the two men who died in a collision between a small car and a snow plow on the Northern Peninsula on Wednesday were both from India.

Biju Antony, 39, was a Roman Catholic priest who lived in Bird Cove. He had been working in communities on the Northern Peninsula for two years.

Justin Devis, 28, was a nurse who lived in St. Anthony. He was heading to Corner Brook to prepare paperwork to bring his wife to Newfoundland from India.

The collision happened about 2:30 p.m., about a kilometre north of the intersection of Route 430 and the Cormack access road.

Snow was falling and the pavement was slippery at the time of the collision.

Nurse 'loved' by patients

Justin Devis, 28, worked as a nurse in St. Anthony. (Facebook)

The news of the tragedy has come as a shock to people who knew the two men.

Mavi Ollerhead met Devis when he came to work with Labrador-Grenfell Health in St. Anthony almost three years ago.

"His patients, his residents, everybody just loved him," said Ollerhead. "Whenever you met him he was happy, I mean happy. And this is an awful tragedy."

"The last I talked to him, he was going home to get married, and of course you can imagine he was just right out of himself, he was so happy."

Priest well liked in Bird Cove

Irene Myers, the town clerk in Bird Cove, and chair of the local parish council, said Biju Antony arrived in Bird Cove in 2010. She said he described himself as very shy, she said it didn't take long for him to fit in.

Father Biju Antony in Bird Cove. (Courtesy the Roman Catholic Diocese of Corner Brook and Labrador)

"As soon as we met him, we made ourselves known to him," said Myers. "Once he got to know us, it was good."

Myers last saw Antony on New Year's Eve, when they served a 5 p.m. mass together, and his death was still a shock for her.

"I never dreamed of that happening, not in a million years."

Myers said local parishoners are planning a mass in Antony's memory.