It was the worst timing for three young women travelling on a stretch of Highway 59.

The car they were travelling in was struck by a stolen Plymouth Voyageur van.

A van that had an immobilizer, but was left running and unlocked while the rightful owner ran into a fast food restaurant to place an order.

Two women were killed, the other rushed to hospital.

Emergency crews described the scene are horrific.

"We had to extricate one individual from one vehicle and she was taken away by ambulance and we had to extricate one person from the other vehicle," said Mark Sinclair of East Beaches Fire and Rescue.

Occupants of the van were also taken to hospital, but their injuries were not life threatening.

A 27-year-old man is now charged in the deaths of Trisha Jones and Tiffany Abraham on a Manitoba highway Wednesday night.

Cory Sidney Kipling from Scanterbury is charged with two counts of impaired driving causing death, and three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm.

Kipling is also facing one count of possessing stolen property.

A warrant was already out for his arrest for breaching his probation rules.

RCMP believes alcohol played a role in the crash.

"There was an indication in speaking with investigators that alcohol was located at the scene," explained Cst. David Obirek.

The Mounties brought in their tracking dog because at first there was some confusion.

They thought there may have been more people involved who fled the scene, but the RCMP now says that is not likely.

A traffic analyst is investigating, but RCMP cannot yet say what speeds the vehicles were going when the collision happened.

The only detail that is certain is that the stolen van was heading west when it hit a Dodge Neon going north.

The van was stolen between 9:00 p.m. and 10:00 Tuesday night from the parking lot of VJ's drive-in restaurant in Winnipeg.

"He just turned around and said 'my van's gone' and he bolted out the door to see where they were going but they went down the back lane," explained Michelle Holyk from VJ's.

One of the victims was just days away from turning 20.

The crash has left one family with a double loss. The two women who were killed Wednesday night were cousins.

Both lived on the Black River First Nation.

Family remembers them as full of life with loads of potential.

"They were happy, that's all I can say is they were happy girls," said their cousin T.J.

Tiffany Abraham, her mom Merle and Cousin Trisha Jones were on their way home to Black River.

They had just picked Trisha up from class at the University of Winnipeg when the driver of a stolen van collided with their Neon.

Trisha was18-years-old. Tiffany was19-years-old and just two days short of her 20th birthday.

Adam Courchene said his grandpa called him Thursday morning to tell him "your cousins are gone."

Adam Courchene is still shaken and says his family is beyond devastated.

The deaths are hitting the community hard. School was cancelled on Thursday and a crisis team brought in.

Only about 800 people live in Black River so just about everyone knew the girls.

"A lot of the youth looked up to them. Obviously they were role models both have finished school," explained Black River Chief Sheldon Kent.

Tiffany worked with kids, teaching them about the internet, while Trisha often baby-sat for extra money.

"She was one of my kid's favourite babysitters. My kids knew her and loved her very much," explained Kent.

There is anger about the fact the van was stolen, but for now the focus is on a double funeral.

The family will come together for a four-day wake with sacred fire and traditional drums.

With reports from CTV's Kelly Dehn and Stacey Ashley