Issue date: 3/29/07 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: Cordele Dispatch The minivan that the sturdents were driving to Florida, was hit by an airborne tire from a semi tractor-trailer March 16 near Cordele, Ga. The driver and one of the other five passengers died as a result of the accident.

The UW-Eau Claire community is still in mourning and shock after the freak accident that claimed the lives of two UW-Eau Claire students on their way to a Florida spring break trip.

Jason Buchmeier, a 21-year-old geography major from Mauston, and Jason Schluter, a 23-year-old kinesiology major from Lyndon Station, died after an airborne tire from a semi-tractor trailer struck their minivan on March 16 near Cordele, Ga.

Buchmeier was pronounced dead at the scene while Schluter, the driver of the van, died four days later at The Medical Center of Central Georgia.

Since the accident, the other passengers in the van, including sophomore Ryan Wirth, juniors Pat Senzig and Christopher Wiora and Joe Burns, who is not a student at Eau Claire, have leaned on each other for support, Wirth said.

"Mentally, we're doing all right, he said. "We've just been hanging together this whole last week."

The crash occurred at about 12:45 Eastern Daylight Time on Interstate 75 near Cordele, Ga., about 100 miles from the Florida state line.

Wirth, who was riding in the front passenger seat of the minivan, was able to pull the vehicle over, which probably saved additional lives.

Wirth used one of his hands to push the brake and the other to guide the van to the curb before the van hit the median, he said.

But Wirth said the "true heroes" were Senzig and Burns. They were the ones who woke up Wirth, yelling for him to take control of the van.

"Anyone can grab a wheel and pull it to the side," Wirth said. "If it wasn't for Pat and Joe screaming my name, it could have been worse."

Continued...

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