MEXICO CITY (WXYZ) — A group of students from the University of Michigan is steadily recovering after being seriously injured in a car crash while on spring break in Cancun, Mexico.
It happened on Feb. 27. All four of them had to be hospitalized and one is still listed in critical condition.
Freddie DeLaRosa stayed behind to help his friend who is still in the intensive care unit. She needs an air ambulance home, which costs around $50,000.
DeLaRosa said a trip to Cancun was a welcomed change of pace after a tough semester of graduate school. He and three classmates were trying to make the most of their five-day trip.
"On the way to the beach, we got caught in traffic, so we were trying to cross a road and the traffic got extremely congested," DeLaRosa said.
DeLaRosa says a van smashed into the rear side door of their car as they were waiting in a middle turn lane. He says everyone but the driver lost consciousness.
"I do not remember anything until waking up in the hospital four days later," DeLaRosa said.
The driver helped coordinate getting everyone to the hospital.
Delrosa said he fractured his pelvis and skull in the crash. He spent one week in the ICU and has since been discharged along with two others.
The fourth member of the group is still in pretty bad shape and the reason DeLaRosa hasn't left Mexico.
"Three out of four of us were critical when we entered, but she got the worst of it, sadly," DeLaRosa said.
According to DeLaRosa, his friend Dipita Das has a broken arm and pelvis, a bruised lung and heart and needs machines to breathe.
DeLaRosa says Das' parents immigrated to the states and don't speak English or Spanish.
He and his mom stayed behind to serve as translators, but more importantly started a GoFundMe page to raise $50,000 for an ambulance flight back home.
"We have the funds now and we are hoping to schedule our flight back home in the air ambulance for her within the next few days or early next week at the latest," DeLaRosa said.
He says this was a freak accident and nothing they could have anticipated, but it makes him want to approach vacations differently.
"Seems like a fun carefree thing, but tragedy can happen anywhere at anytime, so really just over-prepare and plan ahead as much as you can," DeLaRosa said.
When Das arrives in the States, DeLaRosa says she'll likely be in the ICU for another three weeks.
They are still raising money to help with future care.
