Tragedy has struck Florida after a horror crash left nine members of the same family, including six children, dead after they travelled back from a relative’s 80th birthday on Monday night.
Emergency services in Palm Beach County, in the Sunshine State’s southeast, received calls about an SUV that had fallen into a canal near the town of Belle Glade at around 7:30pm.
First responders found the SUV, a 2023 Ford Explorer, upside down with only its wheels above the water. Sources told local media that the canal is around 6ft deep, and the surrounding soil was particularly muddy on Monday due to recent heavy rains.
Four of the 10 people in the car at the time were pronounced dead at the scene, while the other six were taken to hospital. Five of these people later died in hospital, while one remains in a serious condition.
The nine people who died were identified as 5-year-old Kamdien Edwards, 21-year-old Anyia Monique Lee Tucker, 56-year-old Pamela Wiggins, who was driving the vehicle at the time, 1-year-old Naleia Tucker, 5-year-old Yasire Smith, 8-year-old Imani Andrea Ajani Hall, 14-year-old Michael Anthony Hall Jr., 30-year-old Leiana Alyse Hall and three-year-old Ziare Mack.
The lone survivor was reported to be 26-year-old Jorden Hall.
Tragedy has struck Florida after a horror crash left nine members of the same family, including six children, (Pictured) dead
First responders (pictured) found the SUV, a 2023 Ford Explorer, upside down with only its wheels above the water
Sources told local media that the canal (pictured) is around 6ft deep, and the surrounding soil was particularly muddy on Monday due to recent heavy rains
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Capt. Tom Reyes said: ‘I’ve been with the department for 20 years, and this is one of the most difficult scenes I’ve been on.’
All ten of them were in Florida for an elderly relative’s 80th birthday, and were making their way to an airport to fly back to their home in Connecticut.
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Serious questions have been raised over whether this tragedy could’ve been preventable.
According to an official crash report obtained by local media, no one in the car was using ‘safety equipment’, understood to be seat belts, as it travelled down the road.
For unknown reasons, Wiggins failed to go round the sharp narrow curve that was so tight that a car and a truck would’ve struggled to fit at the same time. The report did not say how fast that car was travelling when it crashed.
On top of this, drivers of Ford Explorers are implored to never carry more than seven people in their vehicles at a time.
But family members have said that the car, a rental, was suffering issues at the time.
Anntianette Edwards, whose only son Kamdien Edwards tragically perished, said that while the family had notified the rental company of the unspecified issues, they did not want to drive two hours to get a new vehicle, as they were going back to Connecticut that day.
Family members have since shared their horror at losing so many of their loved ones at once.
Edwards said: ‘I knew something was wrong, called the airplane, they said they didn’t get on their flight.
‘It’s like a bad dream.’
She revealed her son was just about to start school, adding: ‘He was cheerful, funny, not scared of nothing. A daredevil. He was just a happy baby we gave him everything he wanted.’
Antoine Wright, a cousin of the victims, added: ‘My family been through a lot and I just need everyone to just pray.
‘My family is going to need a lot of strength and prayer and support in this situation.’
A GoFundMe page has since been set up to cover the funeral costs of the nine people who tragically died.
At time of publication, just under $15,000 has been raised of the $100,000 target.