Nine children dead in Alabama pile-up
Swept by storm Claudette, the state of the Southeastern United States was the scene of a tragedy that claimed the lives of 10 people in total.
The pile-up was incredibly violent as evidenced by this image of a carcass of one of the vehicles involved.
KEYSTONE
Nine children, including eight girls living in a home, died in a tragic pile-up in the US state of Alabama, a tragedy that killed ten people in total.
The accident, which occurred on Saturday, is “probably” linked to the storm Claudette which devastated several states in the south of the United States, the Butler County medical examiner told AFP on Sunday.
The incident involved more than 15 vehicles traveling northbound on I-65 near Greenville, and could be caused by aquaplaning, Garlock said.
Eight of the ten people who died, all girls between the ages of 4 and 17, were in a vehicle at Tallapoosa County Girls Ranch, a facility that takes in young victims of abuse or neglect.
The driver was saved by a person present at the scene of the accident, but the passengers could not be extracted alive from the vehicle which caught fire. Photos posted on social media show flames several meters high and a thick cloud of black smoke.
A father and nine-month-old daughter, who were traveling in another vehicle, also died after being transported to a hospital in the area, the medical examiner said.
“Our hearts are heavy today,” wrote establishment manager Michael Smith on the Girls Ranch Facebook page, established by the Sheriff’s Office. “It is a horrific tragedy and loss.”
“It’s their family”
Residents of the ranch who were traveling in a second vehicle, behind the one in which the eight girls perished, were not involved in the accident, according to the local news site Al.com.
“We are trying to help them,” with the support of pastors, Michael Smith told Al.com about them. “They were traumatized once again.”
“This ranch is their family,” he described, and with the accident, “they lost a lot of their family.”
For Butler County Sheriff Danny Bond, it was “the worst” accident the county has ever seen.
Originally billed as a storm, Claudette was demoted to the status of a tropical depression as it reached the coasts of the United States.
It nevertheless caused strong winds and heavy rains in Louisiana, Mississippi Florida, Alabama and Georgia.
Claudette also caused tornadoes in places, which cut down trees, overturned cars and even destroyed mobile homes, according to images from local television stations.
In addition to the pile-up, Tuscaloosa (Alabama) city council president Kip Tyner confirmed on Facebook on Saturday that two other people had died during Claudette’s visit.
According to a member of the sheriff’s office, quoted by the Tuscaloosa News site, it is a 24-year-old man and his 3-year-old son, killed in their home by a falling tree.
According to Kip Tyner, more than 18 cm of rain fell in a few hours in Tuscaloosa County.
In Louisiana, precipitation has even reached, in places, up to 35 cm of rain near New Orleans, according to the National Meteorological Service (NWS).
The sudden and heavy rains caused flooding in several parts of the region.
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