Eight people died and 45 were injured in a fatal traffic incident involving a van carrying 53 agricultural workers in central Florida, according to authorities.
The vehicle, which was taking employees to a fruit land, collided with a Ford Ranger and overturned around 6: 30 a. m. Tuesday on SR- 40, between Ocala and Dunnellon, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. After on Tuesday, officials announced the drivers of the Ford vehicle, Bryan Maclean Howard, was arrested and charged with eight counts of driving under the influence- murder.
Eight people died in the incident, according to the Marion County Fire Department, and eight more are now in critical condition. Another 37 persons were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries, according to the report from the Marion County Fire Department.
At a press event at the crash site, a Florida Highway Patrol agent stated that the number of fatalities possibly will rise because of the serious wounds suffered by a number of passengers on the vehicle, according to the Ocala Star Banner. The names of the injured and the dangerous victims have not yet been revealed.
Authorities are also notifying the families of those killed and injured, according to Dave Kerner, chairman of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
” Our sentiments and prayers are with the families of the deceased”, Kerner said, in a statement. The Florida Highway Patrol will do a comprehensive and in-depth traffic accident and judicial investigation in accordance with our jobs.
Cannon Farms, which said in a post on Facebook that it would be closed on Tuesday in honor of the deceased and injured and asked for all those involved in the accident to beg. The agricultural laborers were being taken there.
While government conduct an investigation, the road is closed in both information.
West Highway 40 is nonetheless closed, according to the Marion County Police Department, and may remain so for the majority of the day.
The Florida Highway Patrol told drivers eastward on SR- 40 to get U. S. Highway 41 northbound to West C. R. 328, then consider West C. R. 328 eastbound again to SR- 40. Drivers traveling north on SR- 40 does get West C. R. 328 west to US 41, then get U. S. 41 south back to SR- 40.
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