This was the fiery aftermath of a four-vehicle crash in Florida that left seven people dead — including five children who were on a church trip to Disney World.
“It’s unbelievable,” Avoyelles House of Mercy member Maxine Doughty told the The Gainseville Sun on Friday from the church’s town in Louisiana. “Everybody is in shock.”
The kids were traveling in a church van from Avoyelles Parish to Orlando when the crash happened Thursday at around 3:40 p.m. on I-75 just south of Gainesville — about two hours away from Disney, according to highway officials.
A semi-truck that was traveling north had struck a car and crossed over with it into the southbound lanes — slamming into the van and another semi.
Flames engulfed the two 18-wheelers and spewed out onto the highway amid a diesel spill. The van, meanwhile, had flipped over — ejecting several of its occupants.
The five children who perished in the crash were identified as Cierra Bordelan, 9; Briena Descant, 10; Cara Descant, 13; Joel Cloud and Jeremiah Warren, both 14.
The drivers of the two trucks — Steve Holland, 59, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Douglas Bolkema, 49, of Albuquerque, NM — were both killed.
Those who got ejected were believed to have been run over by a fifth car as it attempted to avoid the wreckage.
Eight people were injured in the crash, including the Avoyelles House of Mercy pastor’s wife and a pregnant woman who later delivered a baby, according to Doughty.
“We lost five of our children,” Doughty said. “We had our Last Supper Sunday and the pastor said to live our lives like each day is the last day.”
John Lemoine, mayor of Marksville, La., the town where the church is located, expressed dismay about the tragedy.
Police survey the scene after a wreck with multiple fatalities on Interstate 75, south of Alachua, near Gainesville, Florida.AP“You have a horrible accident with kids going to Disney to enjoy themselves and this happens,” Lemoine said.
“It’s just beyond belief. It just hasn’t set in yet, to just finish the Christmas holidays and have a new year start off with such tragedy.”
The National Transportation Safety Board would normally send a team to help with the probe, but cannot because of the federal government shutdown.
Florida’s Department of Transportation said the agency is investigating whether the guardrail should have stopped the northbound crash from crossing the highway.
Additional reporting by Chris Perez, Wires
