IU student killed, others injured in crash

An IU sophomore was killed and at least three other IU students were injured when their SUV blew a tire and flipped on I-65 north of Lafayette, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

John Malone was not wearing a seat belt when the Ford Explorer he was in flipped three times, Indiana State Police said. He was ejected from the vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene from blunt force trauma.

State police said that the Explorer was full of students who live in the greater Chicago area and were headed home from college.

The SUV was driven by Mario Guagliardo, another IU student, who was taken to Jasper County Hospital with injuries to his hands, elbow and face.

Jason Blackman, an IU student, was in the back seat with Malone and was also taken to Jasper County Hospital for injures to his ankle and ribs.

Jacob Newman, an IU student, was in the front seat and was not injured, police said.

Michael Rende, who was in the back seat and was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle and air-lifted to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill., with life-threatening injuries, according to the Tribune.

All northbound lanes of I-65 were closed for hours while authorities responded to and investigated the crash, the Tribune reported.

In a separate but related crash, IU student Christin Gelinas suffered minor injuries after a driver who failed to slow down to the prior accident's resulting traffic crashed into her vehicle, causing it to roll over before resting upright on the roadway, the Tribune reported.

Christin Gelinas' mother Melissa Gelinas, however, was in the front passenger's seat at the time of the accident and was pronounced dead at the scene from blunt force trauma, the Tribune reported.

The driver who caused the second accident was uninjured and cited for unsafe lane movement, according to the Tribune.

This story will be updated.

— Charles Scudder and Jordan Littman