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The NTSB (National Transportation and Safety Board) is investigating a crash that killed 8 people in Southwest Florida earlier this week.
Photo by AP
A church van carrying 18 people crashed around midnight Monday. Eight people died and 10 were injured.
The group had left Fort Myers in a 15-passenger white Dodge Ram Wagon B3500 Maxi that crashed near Moore Haven. They were members of the Fort Pierce Independent Haitian Assembly of God, who’d celebrated Palm Sunday at a Lee County sister church, Eglise De Dieu La Jerusalem Celeste. Five men, including the driver, and three women were killed.
Headed home on S.R. 78, the driver missed a stop sign at an unlit T-intersection, careened across four lanes of U.S. 27 and nosedived into the shallow water, according to news-press.com. Read more about the crash.
The NTSB is investigating the crash. NTSB officials investigate less than 1% of the more than 12 million crashes that take place each year. Why are they investigating this one? According to news-press.com, what triggered the investigation was the high number of deaths in a 15-passenger van. Such vehicles have been on the agency’s radar. In 2006, the NTSB issued a safety alert about them, warning of their instability when fully loaded, their tendency to roll over and difficulty for a driver to control in emergencies.
In addition, the vehicles are not generally driven or maintained as commercial or family vehicles are, the vans’ tires have a tendency to deteriorate. Read the NTSB alert on the vans.
Read more about the investigation.
If you have been involved in a crash, Bernardo Injury Law may be able to help. Contact us at (239) 332-3000 or toll free at 888-428-8943, email us at gethelp@injuryinfo.org. You can learn more on our website at injuryinfo.org.