What do you say to someone who has just lost their son?

Hi all,

This is my first post here. I've often wondered if there were forums such as this and my situation has given me the impetus to find you.

As the title says, My very dear friends have just lost their 13yo son to a food allergy while on a school camp. I recieved the news today as the grandmother of the child left a message on our machine. My hand is hovering over the telephone to call them up but am completely at a loss as to what I might say and I'm feeling so emotional about it I don't want to break down while speaking to them.

If I lived close by I would just drive over and hold them, no words necessary. But we currently live at opposite ends of this very big country.

What on earth do I say?

I could try to comfort them with my own views and experiences on the afterlife etc but these people are very Christian and it might not be a good time to say anything that challenges their own beliefs.

I lost my own brother when I was nineteen and at the time I didn't want anybody to really say anything. The thing I appreciated most were the written correspondences we recieved. There were some truly beautiful words written by folk who could never say such things out loud and I'm afraid I fall into the same category.

What to do.

Best,
weareone