USM student killed in Dominican Republic

PORTLAND – A 27-year-old Standish woman was killed in a truck accident in the Dominican Republican while visiting the Caribbean country with other nursing students from the University of Southern Maine, university officials said Friday.

Laura Vogel was killed Thursday when a truck in which she was riding hit a muddy patch and overturned in the town of Palo Blanco. Besides being a student at USM, Vogel was a nurse at Maine Medical Center in Portland.

There were 20 to 25 students and volunteers involved in the accident, the university said, and two students were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.

The students were part of a group of about 70 USM students and volunteers participating in a program that delivers personal care and health education to patients in rural villages of the Dominican Republic.