The Florida Highway Patrol says five children from Louisiana and two tractor-trailer truck drivers died in a fiery crash on Interstate 75 near Gainesville on Thursday.
During a news conference on Friday morning officials with the Florida Highway Patrol said the church passenger van carrying the children was from the Avoyelles Parish in Louisiana.
The crash happened at 3:40 p.m. Thursday just north of Gainesville.
Troopers said a tractor trailer and a passenger vehicle traveling north, collided and went through the guardrail into the southbound lanes. They struck the passenger van and another tractor trailer.
When the trucks collided they caught fire and the flames were fueled by about 50 gallons of diesel fuel.
“Once those semis struck, they both caught fire,” Lt. Patrick Riordan said. He said a fifth vehicle came through and either struck people who had been ejected from the vehicle or debris.
In addition to the seven dead, several others were taken to the hospital, some with critical injuries.
The names of the people killed have not been released. Troopers said they are still in the process of notifying next of kin.
A spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol told The Associated Press in a phone interview that their top priorities were to conduct a thorough investigation and to identify the deceased victims.
Emergency crews extinguished the fire and said they were treating the crash as a homicide investigation, but didn’t say why. The fire was so intense that authorities said it damaged parts of the road.
“There’s going to be families that need to be notified that their loves ones have perished,” said Lieutenant Patrick Riordan.
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.”
The aftermath closed part of the highway in both directions, causing massive delays.
The crash was in the northbound lanes, but southbound lanes were closed for hours to keep a route open for first responders, according to a tweet from the Alachua County Sherriff’s office, which said the emergency “required all hands on deck.” Authorities opened the northbound lanes around 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Motorists should expect delays on Friday as only one southbound lane is open as of 9 a.m.
Debris including personal property and vehicle parts was scattered across the road, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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