With graduation approaching, a time
for celebration turned somber at Boston University on Saturday as
students who were packing up at the end of the school year learned that
three classmates studying in New Zealand were killed when their minivan
crashed during a weekend trip.
Five other students were injured in the accident early Saturday, including one who was in critical condition.
Boston University spokesman
Colin Riley said those killed in the accident were Daniela Lekhno, 20,
of Manalapan, N.J.; Austin Brashears, 21, of Huntington Beach, Calif.;
and Roch Jauberty, 21, whose parents live in Paris.
The students were traveling
in a minivan near the North Island vacation town of Taupo when the van
drifted to the side of the road and then rolled when the driver tried
to correct course, New Zealand police said.
Three of the students died at
the scene, police said. Another woman was in critical condition at a
hospital, while four other students sustained moderate injuries. New
Zealand police said Sunday two injured victims - both women, one 20 and
the other 21 - remain hospitalized in stable condition. The other two
injured in the crash - a 20-year-old man and 20-year-old woman - were
released Saturday.
Another BU student, Margaret
Theriault, was airlifted from the crash site to a hospital in Taupo and
remained in critical condition a day after the accident. In a statement
Sunday afternoon, local health official Mary Anne Gill said the
21-year-old woman had surgery Saturday night and was in intensive care.
New Zealand police
spokeswoman Kim Perks said Sunday that any suggestion as to the cause
of the crash at this stage is "just speculation," and that the
investigation into the accident "will take some time."
Efforts by The Associated
Press to reach family members of Lekhno and Brashears were unsuccessful
Saturday. A person who answered the phone at the home of Lekhno's
family declined to comment, and a message left at a phone listing for
Brashears' family wasn't immediately returned.
Brashears' mother, Julie,
told The Boston Globe that he frequently posted new photos on Facebook
documenting his adventures in New Zealand, including bungee-jumping off
the Auckland Harbor Bridge on his birthday. She said he planned weekend
outings for the study abroad group.
"Everyone called him the
cruise director," she said. "He wanted to include everybody on the
trips. He loved having an eclectic group of friends."
Student body president
Howard Male, a friend of Brashears, said the Boston University students
had posted Facebook updates in anticipation of the trip, saying they
hoped to view scenery captured on film in the "Lord of the Rings"
movies.
"They were all so excited to
be able to go explore what many guidebooks ... have called some of the
most beautiful places on the planet," Male said.
At the university, final
exams ended Friday, and there were few outward signs of any socializing
on Saturday morning. The student union was deserted. The main activity
involved students in the dorms hauling out boxes and pushing rolling
bins filled with their belongings to waiting moving trucks or their
parents' cars as they scurried to meet a noon deadline to clear out.
Student Marcelle Richard, who was
moving out after finishing her freshman year, said news of the other
students' deaths was "really upsetting."
"They were abroad, and it's
so sad that something has to happen when you are supposed to be
experiencing one of the best times of your life," said Richard, 18.
Richard, of New Orleans, said the tragedy will not stop her from going abroad to study later in her college career.
"It's just like tragedies happen, and I don't want that to stop me from a good learning experience," she said.
Jordan Nunez, 22, a senior who
is graduating next week, said the study abroad program is very popular
among Boston University students. He estimates 25 percent to 30 percent
of his friends traveled to foreign countries to study.
Still, the New Zealand accident has darkened the mood on campus, he said.
"You think everything's always
taken care for you, but things can happen wherever you are in the
world," he said. "It's just something that's sad for our community."
Study abroad program
executive director Bernd Widdig called the students' deaths an
"unprecedented tragedy," the worst to hit the program since it began in
the 1980s. The New Zealand part of the program began in 2003 and
involves courses at the University of Auckland and Auckland University
of Technology.
About 250 students, faculty
members and well-wishers gathered in Boston on Saturday evening for a
candlelight vigil for the victims.
Brashears' girlfriend,
junior Tori Pinheiro, cried at the vigil as she recalled how friendly
he was and how much she loved him. She said he recently had left her a
voicemail saying he missed her and she has been playing it repeatedly.
University President Robert
Brown called the students' deaths "a horrible tragedy" and said in an
online statement his "prayers go out to the students and their
families."
All the students except
Theriault were enrolled in a BU study abroad program in Auckland, the
BU website said. Theriault was enrolled in a study abroad program in
Sydney, Australia.
Sixteen students were
traveling in two minivans, on their way to hike the Tongariro Crossing,
a famous trek rated as one of the most spectacular in New Zealand. The
hike crosses a volcanic crater in the central part of North Island.
None of the eight students in the second van was injured. Seven of those eight students were also from Boston University.
Police official Kevin Taylor
said it was unclear why the van drifted to the side of the road. He
said some of the students were thrown from the vehicle, indicating they
may not have been wearing seat belts.
Dean of Students Kenneth
Elmore said it was a terrible end to the year at the school, where
commencement is scheduled for May 20.
"This is an unusual time on
our campus," Elmore said in a statement on the school website. "We have
a lot of people who are traveling and some people who are celebrating
the end of final exams. I'd like everyone to please take a moment to
pay our respects to the families of those who have been killed."