9 people killed when SUV crashes into canal, one person survives

Only one person survived when an SUV carrying 10 people crashed into a canal in south Florida.

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Palm Beach County Fire Rescue officials said the 2023 Ford Explorer went into a canal near Belle Glade, WPVT reported.

The sheriff’s office said the driver “failed to properly negotiate the left curve of the roadway,” driving onto the grass shoulder before hitting a guardrail and flipping “as it came to final rest in the canal,” partially underwater.

Only the wheels were visible, ABC News reported.

Update 1:53 p.m. ET, Aug. 8: The driver was identified as Pamela Wiggins, The Palm Beach Post reported.

Family members from across the country were in Florida to celebrate Wiggins’ mother’s 80th birthday, ABC News reported.

The passengers who were killed were:

• Leiana Alyse Hall, 30
• Anyia Tucker, 21
• Michael Anthony Hall, Jr. 14
• Imani Hall, 9
• Kamdien Edwards, 5
• Yasire Smith, 5
• Ziaire Mack, 3
• Naleia Tucker, 23 months

Kamdien Edwards and Anyia Tucker were from Bridgeport, Connecticut, while Ziaire Smith was from Chesapeake, Virginia.

Wiggins, would have turned 57 the day after the crash, the newspaper reported.

WTNH reported that those killed were cousins or other relatives and that some of the victims were from Jamaica.

Anntianette Edwards lost her only child, Kamdien, in the crash, said the group was on the way back to an airport to catch a flight home, according to the news station .

Original story: The sheriff’s office and the county fire rescue team, including divers, worked to get all 10 people out of the water.

“I’ve been with the department for 20 years and this is one of the most difficult scenes I’ve been on,” Capt. Tom Reyes told WPVT .

The Associated Press called the SUV overloaded. The maximum capacity for the 2023 Explorer is seven people, according to Kelly Blue Book .

A sheriff’s office spokesperson said four people were pronounced at the scene. The six others in the SUV were taken to an area hospital where five of them died, WPVT reported.

The lone survivor was a 26-year-old passenger who is listed in serious condition, the AP reported. He was identified as Jorden Hall, The Palm Beach Post reported.

Officials said five of those killed were juveniles and the other four were adults. Specific ages were not released, other than the sheriff’s office saying “babies,” ABC News reported.

The other victims’ names, nor the relationship with Hall or each other, were not released.