BOSTON —Seeing his injured Boston University classmates lying in a New Zealand roadway after their minivan rolled over, Evan White said he felt helpless.
“Our first impulse was to do whatever we could, but everyone had a sense of helplessness,” White, a junior who was riding in one of three minivans carrying the students on a hiking trip, told the school’s website. “I helped people away from the van. Others ran to a house to get help.”
The Saturday-morning crash killed three students and injured five others, one critically.
The school said 26 students were traveling in the three vans on their way to walk the Tongariro Crossing, a hike across a volcanic crater that is rated as one of New Zealand’s most spectacular.
One of the minivans drifted to the side of the road and rolled when the driver tried to correct course near the North Island vacation town of Taupo, New Zealand police said.
The driver of the van White was in saw the crash in his mirror, pulled over and backed up to the crash site, the school said. The driver of the third van didn’t see the accident and continued to the initial destination.
New Zealand 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 might not have been wearing seat belts.
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.”
