Mico Morin had been heading home Monday. The Fort Carson, Colo., soldier planned to catch a flight from Denver that would have gotten him to North Turner in time for Thanksgiving.

Instead, Morin is being monitored constantly, his broken body held stiff by contraptions in an intensive care unit bed. The hospital lists his condition as critical.

“His lungs are collapsed,” said his twin sister, Nancy Morin, from a nurses’ station telephone at the Swedish Medical Center in Englewood, Colo.

“He has three neck fractures, two in his back” and a multitude of other injuries. “We won’t know until the weekend how his chances are of making it.”

Nancy Morin and other family members have been keeping a vigil at her brother’s bedside.

Mico “Mike” Morin, 22, an Army specialist and a 2001 graduate of Leavitt Area High School, was tossed from a speeding car that swerved out of control on an Interstate 25 curve about 15 miles south of Castle Rock, Colo.

Another passenger in the car, Spc. Sara Richardson, 22, of Wheatland, Mo., was dead at the crash site.

Spc. Dan Schroth, 22, of Beaver Falls, Pa., the driver of the 2000 Mercury, was listed in serious condition at the Englewood hospital.

The crash happened at about 5:45 a.m., said state patrol Master Trooper Ron Watkins.

Police said Schroth was moving at high speed when the car swerved. He overcorrected. The car rolled twice, ejecting all three.

The soldiers were all members of Support Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, and had served together for a year in Iraq. They were scheduled to head back to the U.S.-occupied nation this coming spring, according to Kim Tisor, a spokeswoman for Fort Carson.

The crash site is about 50 miles from the airport where they had hoped to catch flights home for the holiday.

Police said the road was dry and clear at the time of the accident, which remains under investigation. Speed has already been found to be a contributing factor. Toxicology tests were requested to see if drugs or alcohol contributed.

None of the three GIs was wearing a seat belt, according to Trooper Watkins.

He said the crash resulted in the closing of one lane of northbound I-25 for about 90 minutes. The closure caused long backups of traffic on the interstate highway.

– The Associated Press contributed to this report.