Children hurt when van rolls on Interstate

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By Lori Pilger/Lincoln Journal Star

A blown tire sent a 20-year-old van tumbling along Interstate 80 just west of Lincoln Sunday, ejecting its contents of 18 young Sudanese church singers and two adult guardians.

Dave Wendlandt was driving his semi west when he saw the van leave the road in the opposite lane.

“It cartwheeled end-over-end into the ditch,” he said.

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Numerous people were injured Sunday when a can belonging to a Sudanese evangelical church in Omaha rolled on the interstate near the Crete exit. (William Lauer)

Wendlandt pulled over onto the shoulder and crossed the Interstate to see if he could help.

“There were bodies strewn everywhere,” he said. “It was pretty awful.”

No deaths were reported at the accident site, said Deb Collins, a spokeswoman with the Nebraska State Patrol.

By night’s end, four people remained in critical condition and several others were in fair condition at two Lincoln hospitals.

Sunday afternoon, ambulances, rescue workers, medical helicopters and troopers converged on the wreck.

All of the van’s passengers, 16 girls, two boys and two adults, were hospitalized.

At Saint Elizabeth Regional Medical Center, where five of the girls were treated, ages ranged from 9 to 13, said spokeswoman Jo Miller.

“There are lots of fractures and lacerations,” Miller said.

Fourteen victims were sent to the east and west campuses of BryanLGH Medical Center, said Suzanne McMasters, hospital spokeswoman. Some had head injuries and others needed intubation, she said.

No names were released pending notification of parents and relatives.

The 1987 Dodge Ram Sport van carrying members of the Sudanese Evangelical Lutheran  Church in Mission of Omaha rolled near mile marker 390, east of the Crete exit at about 2:24 p.m., said Collins of the State Patrol.

Troopers said the left rear tire of the van blew out, causing the driver to lose control. The van flipped and rolled several times and landed in the south ditch. Collins said many of the injured were thrown from the van.

The trip was organized by the Rev. John Deang, said the Rev. Stuart Burt, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Hebron. The pastors went to seminary together, Burt said by telephone from Minnesota.

On Sunday, the troupe visited Trinity in Hebron and also Zion Lutheran Church in Shickley, about a half hour drive south of York in Fillmore County.

The Sudanese children’s choir planned to sing and then Deang, who is from Sudan, would do Bible study afterward, Burt said.

“My prayers are with the families,” Burt said after learning of the accident. “They’re in the hands of God.”

Nyachuol Chan of Omaha said her two daughters, 11-year-old Koachloay Duop and 12-year-old Nyawuor Duop, were in the van.

“They call me now and say my daughter is in the hospital, my 12-year-old,” she said by telephone.

Chan said the girls had been singing with the church group Sunday and were on their way home when the accident happened. Both girls were going to be OK, she said.

A row of ambulances, at least four firetrucks and two helicopters came and left after loading passengers onto stretchers.

At the scene, westbound traffic crept slowly along I-80, with drivers’ necks craning to see what happened.

Law enforcement closed eastbound lanes at Milford to make way for the rescue workers. Traffic was rerouted to U.S. 34 and U.S. 6 for two hours.

More than 50 eastbound vehicles sat for a little more than two hours, unable to go forward or back.

Reporters Hilary Kindschuh, Zach Pluhacek and Mark Andersen contributed to this report.