Posted on 09/27/2005 5:02:54 AM PDT by nuconvert
Eight Killed as Utah College Van Rolls Over
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
TREMONTON, Utah — A Utah State University van overturned Monday on a highway about 65 miles north of Salt Lake City, killing seven students and an instructor, authorities said. Three other students were injured.
The 11 occupants of the van were ejected as the vehicle rolled four times on Interstate 84 (search) near Tremonton, said Trooper Jeff Nigbur.
Seven of the dead were Utah residents and one was from Washington state, said patrol Trooper Jeff Nigbur.
The dead were identified as driver, Evan Parker, 45, of Hooper; Steven Bair, 24, of Moses Lake, Wash.; Curt Madsen, 23, of Payson; Ryan McEntire, 22, of West Point; Bradley Wilcox, 26, of Salt Lake City; and Justin Gunnell, 24, of Providence.
Dusty Fuhriman, 22, of Tremonton, later died at Bear River Hospital (search) in Tremonton. Jonathan Jorgensen, 22, of Hyrum, died after being flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City, according to the report.
The single-vehicle crash occurred at about 4 p.m. It appeared the van's left rear tire blew out as it tried to pass another vehicle, and speed was a contributing factor,
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Damn shame and our prayers are offered to the families.
But, 11 ejected and killed? Were the injured wearing their seat belts?
11 ejected, 8 killed. Doesn't sound like anyone wore a seatbelt
Quite a few college students over 22 years old, I noticed. Takes a long time to get out these days, I guess.
Sounds about right to me too about seatbelts. I sure wear them. I was in a rollover down a steep hill into a swamp. Two minutes before I lost control of the car, my wife had noticed I wasn't wearing a seatbelt and asked me to put it on. It pays to listen to your wife sometimes.
Thank you, late night last night. It will take about two more cups of coffee to get my left eye open and working.
Yeah I noticed that. Grad students?
if they are mormons they most likely have spent a year or two on mission work during college years
These vans probably dont have seat belts. They are top heavy and dont handle well. The sides arent strengthened and when they roll over they fold up like a cheap pair of drawers. You think they are bad , You should see what happens to most of those mobile trailers called recreational vehicles that sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Prayers for the families and USU who have, without a doubt, lost some wonderful people.
I rented a big old van a couple of years ago. Don't remember the make but it had 4 captains chairs and two 3 person bench seats. Every seat had a seat belt.
The students were underclassmen, mostly freshmen.
"Some have only been on campus a couple of weeks," university President Stan Albrecht said, calling the deaths an "incredible tragedy."
The students were on a trip to look at agricultural equipment in Tremonton, about 85 miles southwest of the Logan campus, said university spokesman John DeVilbiss.
I believe with the amount of people in this van it was more like a school bus than a van. My county uses these vans as Public transportation and they have no belts.
How awful.
Maybe they went into the service first...
Were these all graduate students? Not typical ages for undergrads.
No, the ages aren't typical, but another article said they were mostly freshman.
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