The early Sunday morning crash that killed 17-year-old German exchange student Maria Holscher on Interstate 40 just east of Sky City Casino may have been the result of the driver falling asleep at the wheel, State Police told The Gallup Independent.

Holscher, a senior at Rehoboth Christian School near Gallup, was not wearing her seatbelt and was thrown from the 2003 GMC sports utility vehicle after it rolled several times in the I-40 median, police told the Independent.

Holscher was flown to an Albuquerque hospital where she died, the Independent reported on its Web site.

According to an announcement on the school's Web site, Holscher was a foreign exchange student from Swisttal-Odendorf, Germany, and is survived by her mother and three brothers. She was staying with a host family in Gallup.

Holscher and four other Rehoboth seniors were part of a two-car caravan heading to Santa Fe to take part in a Youth in Government seminar for high school students, according to the school Web site.

According to the Independent, the two vehicles had gotten separated near the Acoma exit on eastbound I-40, and the first vehicle turned around and backtracked to find the second vehicle had crashed.

The four students who survived the crash were taken to hospitals in Grants and Albuquerque for treatment of injuries from head trauma to broken bones, the Independent reported.

The four were identified as Jason Landavazo, 18, of Gallup; Jennifer Krzymoski, 18, of Gallup; Mag Kim, 17, of Gallup; and Natasha Devries, 18, of Zuni, according to the Independent.

(1:15pm UPDATE: According to the Cibola County Beacon, three of the students were not wearing seatbelts and were ejected from the vehicle when it crashed and rolled over about seven times shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday.

Lisa Fitzpatrick of Texas was driving a Swift semi-trailer on westbound I-40 and didn't see the accident itself but stopped when she saw three of the students lying in the highway median, according to the Beacon. Fitzpatrick checked everyone's pulse and talked to some of the injured students while another witness at the scene called 911, the Beacon reported.

Fitzpatrick later told the Beacon that one of the victims told her the students had just returned from spring break in Mexico and were on their way to a youth conference in Santa Fe -- and that everyone in the vehicle was very tired, the Beacon reported.)

Two of the students were seriously injured but are expected to make a full recovery, and two were treated for minor injuries and released to their parents, school executive director Ron Polinder said on the school's Web site.

A memorial service will be held for Holscher later this week at a time and place to be announced, Polinder said.

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