Tiffany Campbell remembers her instincts taking over when a fellow NIU Outing Centre staff member saw a companion van head off the road while driving back from a kayaking and backpacking trip in Georgia early Saturday morning.

“I was sitting behind the driver of the first van, and the person next to me saw something in the side view mirror and said the other van pulled off the road,” said Campbell, outdoor coordinator for NIU’s Office of Campus Recreation. “Trip leaders in our van grabbed flashlights and were just running down there to help — that’s the only thing we could think about.

“We had just done training, a two-hour thing every week, about dealing with spinal injuries and accidents. The staff was just amazing.”

Nine out of 11 passengers in that second van were sent to Champaign-area hospitals about 3:15 a.m. Saturday when a trailer the van was pulling jack-knifed over an icy Sangamon River bridge at Interstate 74 and Route 47 near Mohammet. The van flipped several times down a nearby hill, sending two passengers out of the vehicle.

“If we would have been on flat ground, the van just would have run off the road,” Campbell said. “But we were going up on that bridge, and there was probably a 20-foot drop there.”

NIU senior James Loague, who is also a Northern Star reporter, remains at the Intensive Care Unit at Carle Foundation Hospital in Champaign. His sister, Fiona, said his condition was critical Saturday morning, requiring emergency surgery to repair damage to his kidneys, stomach and lungs, but that he was upgraded by Monday.

“He’s still in the ICU with tubes in him because they’re still doing tests,” Fiona said. “They’re keeping an eye on him. But we knew he was doing better when he asked for a slice of double pepperoni pizza. He’s the big brother, and we’re all worried about him.”

NIU chemistry major Laura Pollock remained in fair condition Monday night at Carle Foundation Clinic in Champaign. She’s recovering from injuries sustained to her jaw and skull after she, too, was thrown from the van.

Scott Lattyak, an Outing Centre staff member, was in stable condition Monday at Carle, recovering from a chipped neck vertebrae injury and a bruised pancreas from the seatbelt.

“He still got out and helped people even though he was hurt,” Campbell said. “He’s an amazing man.”

General Counsel George Shur said NIU will investigate the accident like it does with any other, including driving procedures. Campbell said during outing trips, the group tries to drive straight through, making alternate four-hour shifts.

“It was precipitating a little, and we had just switched drivers,” Campbell said. “The trip was excellent, and we were just two hours away from home. We just couldn’t believe it.”

Bill Finucane, manager of the NIU Transportation Department, said NIU doesn’t have any control over an organization’s driving procedures. Although he wasn’t aware the group was driving straight through, he said different groups utilize different options.

“For athletics, we have a policy in place that if there’s more than 15 of them going, they take a bus,” Finucane said. “We’ve been fortunate to escape the high accident rate with buses rather than the high number with vans.”