Two University of Ottawa students were killed Thursday night in a highway crash about 45 kilometres west of Montreal.

Quebec provincial police said 23-year-old Ted Shen was driving in a construction zone on the TransCanada Highway last night in Vaudreuil-Dorion, just east of the Ontario border, when his car collided with a paramedic car. Ted Shen, 23, and Karina Joly, 20, were both killed when their vehicle collided with a car on the TransCanada Highway.

He and his passenger, 20-year-old Karina Joly, were both pronounced dead at the scene.

Joly and Shen are both from the Anjou area of Montreal and were third-year civil law students at the University of Ottawa.

Sébastien Grammond, the dean of the university's civil law department, said counselling services are available to students.

"I knew personally Karina who had just been elected on the faculty council and we had our first meeting on Tuesday. I remember her quite vividly so it's a shock to me to learn that she died yesterday," said Grammond.