Foreign Students Killed In Van Crash

A van carrying 12 people from the University of Iowa smashed into a parked tractor trailer along a Nebraska highway Monday, killing five people.

Four of the dead were graduate students from Indonesia who hoped to revamp their nation’s primary education system upon graduation. The fifth was a spouse of one of the victims.

They were part of a group of 12 returning from a trip to Mount Rushmore and Denver. They smashed into the rear of the truck at a rest stop shortly after midnight on Interstate 80 in western Nebraska.

The van driver and six others - all students - were treated for injuries. One was in serious condition. The driver of the truck was asleep inside the cab and not injured.

Most of the victims, whose ages ranged from 29 to 36, had children.

Iowa is one of three U.S. universities that educates students for the Indonesian Primary Teacher Education Development Project, which is sponsored by the World Bank.