Tragic news out of Florida this morning as a fiery crash filled Interstate 75 near Gainesville, Florida when two tractor truck drivers collided with a passenger church van. Seven people have been reported dead in the accident which includes five children who were in the van and heading from Louisiana to Walt Disney World.
The children were in the passenger van which was traveling from Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. One of the big rig trucks collided with a passenger vehicle in the northbound lanes of I-75 and they slid across the separating guardrail and into the path of another large truck and the church van.
Lt. Patrick Riordan said that “once those semis struck, they both caught fire.”
A fifth vehicle was involved in the crash as it came through and may have struck some of the debris or people who had been ejected from other vehicles. At least 50 gallons of diesel fuel spilled onto the roadway and continued to build up the fire.
7 killed, others hurt in fiery crash with diesel fuel spill on I-75 near Gainesville https://t.co/NeTwWrPbsS pic.twitter.com/mrC9wimM5n
— South Florida Sun Sentinel (@SunSentinel) January 4, 2019
Seven people have already been reported dead in the crash with another eight transferred to hospitals with injuries. The Sentinel Sun reported more on the crash:
Vinnie DeVita said he was driving south at the time and narrowly escaped the crash – he said it saw it happen in his rearview mirror, immediately behind him, according to a report by WKMG.
“If I had stepped on the brake when I heard the noise, undoubtedly, I would have been in that accident,” DeVita said. “And then within probably 15 to 20 seconds of it all, it exploded. I mean, just a ball of flames.”
The aftermath closed part of the highway in both directions, causing massive delays along the busy north-south corridor. Authorities opened the northbound lanes around 8 p.m. but all but one southbound lane remained closed Friday morning. Debris, including personal property and vehicle parts, was scattered across the road, the Florida Highway Patrol said. A helicopter helped search for any victims who may have been in nearby woods.
Nicole Towarek was traveling northbound with her family when they came across the scene. She told the Gainesville Sun that black smoke billowed, people were laid out near vehicles, there were long skid marks across the roadway and emergency workers were converging on the area.
“We kept seeing these little explosions and fire,” she said. “The heat, it was insane.”
It was the worst accident on I-75 in Alachua County since January 2012, when 11 people died in a chain reaction crash attributed to heavy fog and smoke on the roadway, which crosses Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park. Officials were criticized then for not closing the road due to worsening conditions, and later installed cameras, sensors and large electronic signs to help prevent similar crashes.
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