A van carrying several ISU students to a leadership conference in North Dakota flipped after the driver fell asleep at the wheel early Friday morning.

The two Government of the Student Body vans were carrying 14 residence hall student leaders to the University of North Dakota for the Midwest Association of College and University Residence Halls (MACURH). The students left for the conference late Thursday night.

Kristen Banas, sophomore in mechanical engineering, fell asleep about 3:50 a.m. Friday while traveling on Interstate 94W six miles east of Fergus Falls, Minn., according to an accident report from the Minnesota State Patrol.

Passenger David Breutzmann, sophomore in computer science, said the van hit the median and Banas over-corrected, causing the van to flip about three times.

Banas was unavailable for comment Sunday.

GSB Finance Director Steve Medanic said he received a call Friday morning from his girlfriend, Kristy Stallmann, sophomore in political science, about the accident. Stallmann was a passenger in the other van going to the conference.

“All she told me was that they went to the side of the road, swerved into the median and then into the ditch, and it turned on its side,” said Medanic, senior in physics.

Breutzmann said he was sleeping at the time of the incident. He said he woke up and realized that everyone was asleep, including Banas.

“It was scary,” he said. “We swerved a few times; I shouted up to the front to wake her up.”

When the van rolled, Breutzmann said he fell into April Samuelson, student in liberal arts and sciences.

Heather Minish, sophomore in meteorology, sustained the most injuries in the accident when her knees were ground into the highway where the window had once been, Breutzmann said.

“Some of us were [wearing seat belts], some of us weren’t. I won’t say who wasn’t wearing one,” he said.

Minish and Samuelson were taken by ambulance to Lake Region Hospital in Fergus Falls soon after the accident. Minish’s injury required surgery, but Breutzmann said Minish left the hospital sometime Friday.

Hospital officials said Samuelson was treated and released for minor hand injuries, and Christopher Kubina, freshman in liberal arts and sciences, was also treated and released for a head injury.

“Chris bumped his head,” Breutzmann said. “He had that checked out, and he was OK.”

Everyone except Breutzmann, Minish and an unidentified passenger decided to continue on to MACURH Friday. The remaining passengers were taken to North Dakota by the other GSB van, Breutzmann said.

The rest of the group, including chaperone John Shertzer, graduate assistant in the Department of Residence, was expected to arrive back in Ames late Sunday night and could not be reached for comment.