Students who rescued a family whose van plunged into Galveston Bay spoke out Monday about their heroic act.

Police said that Jose Arnulfo Rodriguez, 26, intentionally drove his 1989 Ford Aerostar at a high rate of speed down a dead-end road into the bayou in order to kill his family. Rodriguez was charged with four counts of attempted capital murder. His bond was set at $1 million.

His wife, Maria Rodriguez, 21, and their 7-month-old child, Brenda, were both listed in critical condition at John Sealy Trauma Center

The other victims include Rosalinda Martinez, 26; her daughter, Linda, 7; and her son, Melvin, 3. They were also in critical condition.

When the car plunged into the water Saturday afternoon, some staff and students from Texas A &M University at Galveston were nearby sailing. They jumped into the water to help.

"The frustrating thing was that we all knew that there's time against us and so we couldn't just simply sit back and wait for things to get better," said Cdr. Gerard Coleman with the Texas Maritime Academy.

"Nobody panicked," said Jeff Daigle, a Texas Maritime cadet. "Obviously there's a heightened sense of awareness and people were not as calm as they would normally be. But everyone realized they had a job to do and quickly fell into an organized fashion."

Even though the rescuers were excellent swimmers, they had to deal with difficult conditions, including a water temperature of 60 degrees. The van also sat in nine feet of water, and visibility was only about six inches. The van's doors were also locked, which forced the rescuers to use rocks to break the rolled-up windows.

"Until they said that everybody was accounted for, we were repeatedly going down groping for locating somebody," Daigle said.