Three Sorority Sisters Heading to Spring Break Killed By Driver on the Wrong Side of the Road

(The Blaze/AP) — A driver going the wrong way on a highway crashed head-on into a car carrying five Bowling Green State University sorority sisters who were going out of town ahead of spring break, killing herself and three of the students and leaving two other students injured.

The accident happened about 2:30 a.m. on Interstate 75 south of Toledo, just miles from the campus.

Wood County Sheriff Mark Wasylyshyn said the accident occurred at a crest in the highway and he doubts the northbound student who was driving had any warning.

"I don't think the college girls ever saw it coming. Nothing they could have done to avoid the crash," Wasylyshyn said.

"The college girls apparently did nothing wrong. They were just driving northbound and a woman driving in the opposite direction in the wrong way on the roadway hit them head-on." The woman was traveling alone.

The university said the students were members of Alpha Xi Delta sorority. The campus was working with police and hospital officials to notify families of the victims.

The university identified those killed as Rebekkah Blakkolb, 20, a junior from Aurora, Ohio, Christina Goyett, 19, a sophomore from Bay City, Mich., and Sarah Hammond, 21, a junior from Yellow Springs, Ohio.

The injured were identified as Angelica Mormile, 19, a freshman from Garfield Heights, Ohio, and Kayla Somoles, 19, a sophomore from Cleveland.

The school's President Mary Ellen Mazey said in a Facebook posting that the two students were hospitalized with serious injuries.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol said the students were going north on the interstate on the way to the Detroit airport.

The university's spring break begins Saturday.

It was the second school tragedy in five days in Ohio. On Monday, three students were fatally shot and two others were wounded at Chardon High School east of Cleveland. A 17-year-old was charged.

Ten years ago six Bowling Green students were killed returning home from a spring break trip to Florida.

The students, all 19, were returning from Panama City, Fla., on March 15, 2002, when their minivan slid into oncoming traffic and was struck by a tractor-trailer.

Authorities said severe winds and heavy rain may have contributed to the crash, which happened on Interstate 71 near Verona, Ky., about 25 miles south of Cincinnati.

The Toledo Blade reports that the driver on the wrong side of the road has been identified as Winifred Lein, 69, who died in the crash after her car became engulfed in flames.

According to The Daily Mail, court records show that Lein had been previously cited locally for a lane change violation. She plead guilty in September 2002 to the traffic violation and was told to pay $61 court costs.