• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

MILWAUKEE - A spring break trip ends in tragedy for several college students from Wisconsin.

The van carrying the students from Texas crashed, killing a man from Appleton and injuring six other college students from Wisconsin.

Two of the injured students attend the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

All seven men spent their spring break at South Padre Island in Texas.

They were driving through Missouri, near St. Louis, on their return home Sunday morning when the driver lost control.

A spokesperson with the Rock community fire department says he hit the median, drove across the highway and struck a guardrail.

Brad Nudelbacher, who was 23 and from Appleton, died at the scene.

UWM students Jordan Nowak and Joshua Tysver survived, along with four others students from Wisconsin, but were trapped inside the van.

"Our firefighters actually had to extricate the victims, actually had to take the roof off the vehicle to extricate all the victims," said Ron Harder of the Rock Community Fire Department. "In a situation like this we put a firefighter in the vehicle to comfort and calm the victims."

It appears both UWM students were treated and released from the hospital, and that the other injured students will likely survive.