A grandmother celebrating her 94th birthday was murdered, and eight others were injured, after a van carrying nine people collided with a fuel tanker truck on the Florida Turnpike in Broward Tuesday afternoon, according to authorities.
The collision occurred around 2:30 p.m. in the Turnpike’s southbound lanes near Griffin Road, involving a passenger van and a tractor-trailer.
Aerial footage from Chopper 6 captured a white van with serious front-end damage, as well as other vehicles that looked to be involved.
A yellow sheet covered what seemed to be a body next to the van. Officials from the Plantation Department, which aided Davie Fire in the reaction, verified that one person died at the scene.
Davie Fire Rescue authorities reported that eight victims, including three children, were transported to nearby hospitals from the incident.
An ambulance transported seven people from the scene, while air rescue responded to evacuate a patient to Broward General Hospital. Officials with the Florida Highway Patrol stated the person killed was a female, and one of the children injured was an infant.
According to an FHP investigation, the van carrying nine passengers rear-ended a fuel tanker truck.
According to the investigation, several people were ejected from the van, and the person killed was a 94-year-old woman celebrating her birthday.
All of the other injured victims were in stable condition and expected to recover. The truck driver was not injured.
Plantation Fire officials claimed no one in the van was wearing a seatbelt. The investigator stated that disability was not a factor. The incident halted all southbound lanes in the region, bringing traffic to a halt at one point.
No other information was immediately available.
Reference: Woman, 94, killed, 8 injured in major crash on Florida’s Turnpike in Broward