Old friends from Argentina reunited in New York. Five died together in a terrorist attack.

ROSARIO, ARGENTINA – The childhood friends from Argentina had been planning the trip to New York City for years.The men all hailed from Rosario, Argentina’s third largest city, about 185 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. As teenagers, they had bonded in the halls and classrooms of the Instituto Politécnico, a technical high school in Rosario, and graduated together from there in 1987.

Through the decades — despite job changes, marriage, children, moves to far-flung corners of the world — they remained close friends. And on Saturday, eight of the former classmates gathered to fly to the United States to celebrate their 30th graduation anniversary.

They were in their late 40s now, firmly in the realm of middle age. But as they posed for a photograph just before their departure, the old friends slung their arms over one another and grinned like schoolkids. They donned matching white T-shirts emblazoned with the same word: “LIBRE.” Free.It is unclear when exactly they arrived in New York; they had planned to stop in Boston, to meet up with another former classmate. But what is certain is that on Tuesday — a beautiful, brisk fall afternoon in Manhattan — the men rode bicycles along a bike path flanking the Hudson River.

As they pedaled along the West Side Highway, a white rented Home Depot truck turned onto the path as well.

The truck would soon plow into a crowd of pedestrians and cyclists, killing at least eight people — including five of the Argentine men. At least one other former classmate from the group was injured.

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