Florida church van crash leaves 8 dead, 10 hurt
Eight people were killed and 10 others injured when a church van crashed into a Florida canal on its way back from a weekend retreat, authorities said.
The 16-passenger van, carrying 18 people as it traveled across the state from Fort Myers to Fort Pierce, crashed near Lake Okeechobee in Glades County around 12:30 a.m., police said.
The travelers, all members of Fort Pierce-based Independent Haitian Assembly of God, were returning from a church convention on Florida’s gulf coast, WINK reported.
The van’s driver rolled through a stop sign, drove quickly across all lanes of U.S. 27, careened off the road and went down a steep embankment into the canal, according to Lt. Gregory S. Bueno, a Florida Highway Patrol spokesman.
The driver and seven passengers were killed. Ten other passengers were taken to local hospitals. Three were in serious condition. Four , including a 4-year-old, were in stable condition. The conditions of the three other passengers were not revealed.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation, authorities said.
Nozaire Nore, 48, suffered a broken leg in the crash. With his niece translating from Haitian Creole, Nore told Scripps Treasure Coast that the driver didn’t notice a curve in the road and couldn’t stop in time.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Dina Sarver, a friend and fellow church member, of those in the van to Wink News. “Because it is so many of us. You know there are people there at the church waiting, we’re two hours away, it was supposed to be a simple go, have fun, come back. It just didn’t turn out to be like that.”
