Nate Chute/The Whitworthian Freshman Daniel Burtness of Whitworth University was killed following a car accident Sunday. Four other students remain in critical condition.

A Whitworth University student died Monday morning after a car accident in Montana this weekend.

Five students were involved in a collision near St. Regis, Mont. Freshman Daniel Burtness broke both of his legs and suffered a head injury, said Kathy Storm, vice president for student life, in a campus-wide e-mail Sunday.

Burtness went into surgery Sunday morning and then fell into a coma, according to a Facebook group called Pray For Daniel Burtness. Brain damage was later detected that caused a loss of blood and oxygen to the area, and Monday morning he was taken off of life support, according to the group.

Burtness was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time on April 28, President Bill Robinson said in a campus-wide e-mail.

"All of us who knew Dan feel an unspeakable sense of loss. As one student prayed last night, we still have too much to learn from Dan for him to leave us now," Robinson said in the e-mail.

"In both confusion and hope, we reach out to Christ and the power of his resurrection. This is just awful for us, but as another student prayed last night, nobody could be happier to be with Jesus than Dan," Robinson said.

A memorial service will be held tomorrow at 4 p.m. in Whitworth's Seeley G. Mudd Chapel.

The other students involved in the accident were injured, but they will be able to return to campus soon, Storm said in the e-mail Sunday.

Jonathan Graham, Montana Highway Patrol trooper, said he was told the car containing the students hit a deer and fishtailed in the other lane where it hit a pickup truck. The circumstances surrounding the accident are still under investigation, Graham said.

He said he received a phone call about the accident at 12:15 a.m. on Sunday, April 27.

Graham said it appeared that the car had been hit on the front passenger side and rotated. The truck appears to have gone over the front part of the car, Graham said.

Ross's car has been totaled, Graham said.

Some of the passengers in both vehicles were wearing seatbelts, Graham said.

All three passengers of the pickup and three of the five students were transported to three different hospitals in Montana, Graham said.

The passengers were transported by ambulance and plane to St. Patrick Hospital and Missoula Community Hospital in Missoula, Mont., and a hospital in Superior, Mont., Graham said.

According to Graham, some of the people who were taken to the hospital have been released, and some are still being held.

Jasmine Linabary and Joy Bacon contributed to this report.