Fiery crash claims the lives of a young family, March 21, 2015

Monday, March 23, 2015

Fiery crash claims the lives of a young family, March 21, 2015

Crystal Cross, Jeremiah Joseph Cross, and 7 month old Grayson Cross, months, of Ontario, Canada.

FLORENCE, S.C. – March 21, 2015
Five people lost their lives in a fiery multi-vehicle crash Saturday night on Interstate 95 in Florence County. The crash occurred in the northbound lanes of I-95 just before the 170 mile marker at the exit for S.C. 327, at around 7:30 p.m., according to Cpl. Sonny Collins with the SCHP.

Two tractor-trailer commercial vehicles were among the five involved. At least one car, mostly burned, was pinned beneath one of the tractor-trailers. Another car sat, fully burned, close by. A second tractor-trailer, slightly further up the highway, also sustained damage and possibly collided with a fourth consumer vehicle, a pickup truck.

Vahid Hamzehnava was in a vehicle not far behind where the accident happened. He said "I tried to slow down with the flow of traffic and all of a sudden it just happened, right before my eyes", he said "I saw the truck driver get out" he thought the truck was going to explode, so he ran down the highway. And then after a couple of seconds they said, ‘move the car, move the car.’ Everybody started backing up. And then the whole truck got on fire." He and another witness tried running toward the accident to assist trapped passengers. "We tried," he said. "There was nothing we could do."

Law enforcement and first responders began diverting all northbound traffic at mile marker 169 after the collision. The accident caused all northbound lanes of I-95 to be blocked off for nearly 12 hours. With normal traffic flow returning early Sunday morning, according to the SCDOT.

That total dead was confirmed Sunday morning to be five souls in a release issued by Florence County Coroner, Keith Von Lutcken. Autopsies will be conducted on all of the victims at MUSC. One of the fatalities was a baby, according to a witness on the scene.

Sunday, March 22, 2015, Coroner, Keith Von Lutcken identified the victims as Barry Himes, 52, and Jacqueline Ann McCann, 51, of Johnstown, PA. The coroner says they were in the 2011 Jeep Cherokee.

The victims in the 2008 Honda are identified as a young family. Jeremiah Joseph Cross, 34, Crystal Cross, 32, and Grayson Cross, 7 months, of Ontario, Canada.

The incident is under investigation by the S.C. Highway Patrol and the Florence County Coroner's Office. The South Carolina Highway Patrol has not released the details of the crash.

follow up article:
http://www.intelligencer.ca/2015/03/23/trenton-family-among-those-killed-in-i-95-crash-in-south-carolina