5 Ga. nursing students die in multivehicle highway crash
ATLANTA — Five Georgia nursing students died on their way to a training session in a seven-vehicle crash that also left three people injured, including two other nursing students, authorities said on Thursday.
The female students, in their first year of nursing school, were traveling on Interstate 16 from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro to a hospital in nearby Savannah for training on Wednesday.
The accident involved two tractor-trailer trucks and five cars, according to the Georgia State Patrol and university officials.
“Initial indication is a tractor-trailer failed to stop as traffic was slowed/stopped and it crashed into a line of vehicles,” the Georgia State Patrol said.
Charges are pending in the accident, the patrol said.
“Losing five students is almost incomprehensible,” Georgia Southern University President Brooks Keel said in a statement.
The university will hold a memorial service for the students on Thursday night, university spokeswoman Jan Bond said.
