Four women recovering after crash in Mexico

The other twenty or so hours, she watches over her daughter at Tucson Medical Center after the UA freshman and four other students were injured during a Jan. 16 car accident in Mexico.

Palmera's daughter Jennifer was on her way to Rocky Point, riding in the back seat of her friend's GMC Jimmy. When an axle broke, the truck was sent rolling four times across the Mexican highway.

After the crash, Palmera and her friend, freshman Erin Feeney, weren't stable enough to return to the U.S. The women stayed the night in two separate Mexican clinics until Sunday morning, when they were airlifted to TMC.

Palmera, a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority, is being treated at TMC for a broken arm, two broken femurs and a broken pelvic bone. She is recovering and will return to her home in California upon release, Resa Palmera said.

"You never know what kind of medical facilities they will have (in Mexico), but they saved the girls' lives," she said.

Feeney needed 88 stitches, suffered a collapsed lung and will undergo vertebrae surgery when her wounds are healed.

Another passenger, UA freshman Lindsay Rattray, was riding in the car's back seat.

She ended up at University Medical Center with a broken femur, clavicle, and three chipped disks in her back.

Rattray and the fifth passenger, an unidentified male student with minor injuries, were taken to the border by ambulance after assistance from the clinic in Mexico.

Robyn Levenson, who was driving at the time of the accident, stayed in Mexico to watch over Palmera and Feeney, but didn't feel safe getting medical attention.

Levenson said the clinic saved the two girls lives, but she didn't think they were equipped with enough technology to be safe.

"It was awful," she said. "They splinted Jenny's arm in a cardboard box, and doctors delivered a baby right next to us."

Levenson, also an Alpha Epsilon Phi member and athletic trainer for the University of Arizona, received a cut on her head and a broken thumb.

"I just wanted to help my best friends," she said. "I wanted to get them to Tucson - I felt it was my responsibility."

After the accident, three American cars stopped to assist the students and took them to the clinics, using kayak oars from one tourist's recent trip to move the injured.

Levenson said that she will not return to Mexico and suggests that other students "think twice" before leaving the country.

Mexican highway patrol did not handle the case, so authorities had no knowledge of the accident and could not comment.

Tate Williams can be reached at Tate.Williams@wildcat.arizona.edu