Wednesday, May 31, 2006

How Does Something Like This Happen?

A few weeks ago there was a terrible accident just outside of Indianapolis. It involved a semi-truck and a school van carrying a group of college kids and a college faculty member. The accident killed three of the students and the faculty member. One of the students, a girl survived. The girl that survived was in a coma. The other students were had funeral services and were buried.

Here is the sad/crazy part. It turns out that one of the girls they thought was dead is actually a live and the coma. The girl they thought was in the coma is dead. In short, the girl that was buried is the wrong girl. The girl they thought was dead is, in fact, alive. I just read about it on Yahoo. Here is what indystar.com (Indianapolis Star online) has to say about it.

I've been trying to wrap my brain around this one all night. I'm not sure I understand how something like this can happen. If it had been a movie it would never be believable.

Imagine the heartache and pain the families feel. So, if any of my readers can explain this to me in short, simple sentences feel free.

Here Laura VanRyn's family. She is the girl that was misidentifed as being alive.

2 comments:

thirdworstpoetinthegalaxy said...

I heard about this today. Absolutely awful. And not just for the family that is now grieving; a tragedy all around. Too great a roller coaster of emotions.

Anonymous said...

This happened to my family in 1980 when my 18 year old sister was killed in an auto crash. Four kids were killed. My sister's body was misidentified at the scene by paramedics. I won't go into all the details, but it should never have happened. The facts were there--drivers licenses in pockets, etc. We sat with another girl for three days before we realized it was not my sister. By the time we found out the truth her body had been cremated by another family. That was not my mother's tradition so she was devastated. I am sorry that another family had to go through this. And I am sorry that my mother is havin to relive it through their tragedy.