3 Columbia Students Killed in Bus Accident in Honduras

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/15/nyregion/3-columbia-students-killed-in-bus-crash-in-honduras.html

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It was an adventure. A chance to learn and explore and help people with urgent health care needs in a place far from the comfortable confines of Columbia University’s campus.

A week ago, dozens of students from Columbia and Barnard College, a women’s liberal arts school associated with the university, set off for Latin America with the nonprofit humanitarian group Global Brigades.

They spent their time shadowing doctors in medical consultations, distributing medicine and meeting with patients.

On Wednesday, as the students were heading to the airport in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, the bus they were traveling in stalled on a steep incline and then rolled backward and plummeted into a ravine.

Three students were killed, and a dozen were injured.

“This terrible and tragic loss is all the greater because these individuals were dedicating their passion and very special talents to serving those in need,” Lee C. Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, said in a statement. “No endeavor more proudly exemplifies the traditions and values of our university.”

The victims were identified as Olivia Erhardt, 20, a Columbia student, and Daniella Moffson, 21, a Barnard student. Abigail Flanagan, 45, a nurse practitioner at Columbia University Medical Center and a student at the university’s School of General Studies, was also killed.

Her son, Patrick, a Columbia student and one of the organizers of the trip, was by her side when she died.

Capt. Gustavo Barahon, a fire department spokesman, told local reporters that the cause of the accident was not clear but that a mechanical failure might have played a role.

Steven Atamian, a co-founder of Global Brigades, issued a statement saying that the organization was working to ensure that the students who were injured would receive the best possible care and that arrangements were being made to get everyone back to the United States as soon as possible.

In an email to the parents of the students, the organization said there were 28 students and three medical professionals on the bus. “At this moment, the cause of the accident is presumed to be a mechanical error caused by an engine stall while going up a hill,” the email said.

Columbia sent its own medical expert to Honduras to help care for the injured.

“Dr. Samuel Seward, medical director for Health Services, and other Columbia support personnel are on their way now to Honduras,” Mr. Bollinger said in the statement. “The students who were not badly injured and who are able to return to the United States are in the process of doing so. We have contacted the families of all involved and are closely monitoring the situation to render all the help we can.”

For the families of those killed and injured and the wider Columbia community, the news of the accident was devastating.

The families of the victims asked for privacy, but Ms. Erhardt’s mother, Joan, described her daughter as “a bright and beautiful young woman.”

“She embraced the world around her, had tremendous curiosity and loved to explore and try new things,” Ms. Erhardt said in a statement. She said her daughter “felt science had an important role” in the world and was a member of Columbia’s Scientists and Engineers for a Better Society. Ms. Erhardt also described her daughter as “an accomplished creative writer” who was on the staff of 4x4, a campus literary magazine.

Like her fellow students, she was described as having an infectious enthusiasm and a full life that was cut tragically short.

“Olivia had the best friends anyone could ask for, teachers, coaches and family friends who helped her become the wonderful person she was and, of course, a family that will miss her forever,” her mother said.