Part of a CNN article --
Seven children, including an infant, died Wednesday when a tractor-trailer rear-ended their car near Gainesville, Florida, slamming it into the rear of a school bus that had stopped to let children off.
The car, which was driven by a 15-year-old girl with a learner's permit, burst into flames, killing everyone inside, said Lt. Mike Burroughs of the Florida Highway Patrol. The truck was partially burned, its cab overturned.
The accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m., four miles south of Lake Butler in northern Florida.
Burroughs identified the victims as Cynthia Mann and Elizabeth Mann, both 15; Ashley Keen and Johnny Mann, both 13; Miranda Finn, 9; Heaven Mann, 3; and Anthony Lamb, 20 months.
The Manns, except for Anthony, were adopted foster children; and the family was in the process of adopting Anthony, Burroughs said. Ashley and Miranda were cousins.
Nicole Mann was at the wheel of the car, said Tina Mann, her aunt.
"Yes, she's 15, she had her learner's permit, she knows how to drive," Mann said.
"Even though she was an under-age driver, it's my understanding she did not cause the accident," she said. "The same thing would have happened had there been an adult in the car with her. We'd just have one more death in the family."
1 comment:
My heart goes out to the Mann family and the families of the two neices. It's my understanding that the grandfather also died, because of a heart attack he suffered when he heard the news of his grandchildren. That just breaks my heart and I pray that the family can get through this. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this time of grief.
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