Students killed in accident were heading to medical school conference

KENNETT, Mo. -- Five students from The University of Texas at Austin were killed on their way to a medical school conference when a tractor-trailer collided with their car on U.S. 412 in the Missouri Bootheel, authorities said.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol said the crash happened around 9 p.m. Thursday when the students attempted a U-turn in their Toyota Corolla in Dunklin County, about one mile north of the small town of Cardwell and 15 miles southwest of Kennett.

Four of the students belonged to the premed honor society Alpha Epsilon Delta, which is having a conference this weekend at the Hyatt Regency in St. Louis.

Juan Gonzalez, vice president for student affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, said the students were "a group of the best and brightest we have."

Troopers spent Friday notifying relatives of the victims, all from Texas. The victims were identified as Nikolaus Simeon, 20, of League City; Michael Woodward, 22, of Austin; and three women: Stephanie Wilson, 20, of Houston; Fan Sun, 18, of Spring; and Lan Phong Nguyen, 21, of Sugar Land.

Cpl. Mike Scoggins said Simeon was flown to Arkansas Methodist Medical Center in Paragould, Ark., where he was pronounced dead just before 11 p.m. The other four victims were pronounced dead at the scene.

Relatives of two of the victims traveled to the area on Friday.

"This is the highest fatality one I've worked," Scoggins said. He said the victims' car was hit on the driver's side.

Scoggins said the two occupants of the semi were not injured.

"He is shaken up," Scoggins said of the semi driver.

Friday was the last day of classes before spring break at the Texas school. Fellow students, some in tears, received counseling as news of the deaths spread.

Wassia Khaja, president of the school's Alpha Epsilon Delta chapter, said she broke down while breaking the news to members.

"It's just still hard to believe," she said. "Five people I knew very well, all at once in such a terrible way and so far from home. I can't imagine what the families are going through and the significant others."

Rania Hanna, the chapter's treasurer, said Wilson, Sun and Nguyen were leaders of the group and Simeon was a member. She said Woodward spent time with the group because he was engaged to Sun.

"They are all really ambitious," she said. "They weren't just students who were students. They were students with vision."

She said all of them planned to attend medical schools and Woodward and Nguyen had been accepted into programs.

Hanna said she wanted to attend the conference in St. Louis but couldn't because she had a test Friday. She said others from the group who weren't able to attend felt guilty.

"It's a lot to take in, honestly," she said. "I feel like it hasn't really hit me. It's a strange reality.

"So many people, and people filled with aspirations."

The victims will be remembered in May during an annual memorial ceremony in which bells in the university's landmark tower ring once for each member of the university community who died during the year. Hanna said the student group also was considering organizing its own memorial service.