PBHA Van Overturns In Accident After Trip

A van carrying 10 Harvard students back from a public service project in West Virginia crashed early Saturday morning near Scranton, Penn., injuring several students.

The Phillips Brooks House Association (PBHA) van skidded on an ice patch on Interstate 84 and spun into a full 360-degree turn, swerving into a ditch on the side of the road and turning over on its side, according to Paul L. Rosenstein '92, the driver of a second PBHA van.

The two vehicles were returning from an "alternative spring break" program in which the students painted and landscaped public health clinics in West Virginia.

The students in the second van, with the help of a truck driver who had stopped at the scene, ascertained that no one had been seriously injured by the crash and helped evacuate the toppled van, Rosenstein said.

An ambulance took four students to Scranton's Community Medical Center. Kelly A.E. Mason '92 and Victor Ortiz-de-Montellano '93 were treated for bruised shoulders. Along with the other two students, they were released without any major treatment that day.

The injury was not that serious," said Ortiz-de-Montellano. "It was like getting your shoulder hit hard in a football game."

"We were pretty lucky on the whole that no one got very substantial injuries," Ortiz-de-Montellano added.

Students said the van did not escape the crash unscathed--its windshield was cracked and its left side was seriously dented. But the greatest signs of damage inside the van, they said, consisted of large quantities of spilled snack food.

"Everywhere where there should have been blood, there were Corn Chex," said Rosenstein.

The students drove the damaged vehicle back to Harvard.

PBHA President Lovita T. Tandy '92 said she expected Harvard insurance to cover the damages