 |
| COLE AND ELISE SPENNATI DIED IN THE HORRIFIC FIERY CRASH INCLUDING THEIR TWO CHILDREN. AT LEAST THEY ARE ALL TOGETHER. |
GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCIV) — The names of the victims of the fatal multi-vehicle crash that happened on Interstate 95 Tuesday have been released.
According to officials with the N.C. Department of Public Safety, four of the people killed lived in Goose Creek.
They said 32-year-old Elise Ann Spennati was driving the Dodge pick-up truck that was hit by the speeding Volvo tractor trailer tanker that failed to slow down in a work zone. Investigators said the pickup was pushed into the rear of a Ford Explorer which was then pushed into the rear of a Ford Escape.
The Volvo tractor trailer tanker continued out of control and rear-ended a Freightliner tractor trailer. The the gasoline that was being hauled in the Volvo tanker was ignited as both tractor trailers were pushed into a Kenworth tractor trailer.
The Volvo tanker then ran off the road and caught fire. The driver of the tanker, 68-year-old Michael Elliott Bricker, died.
Spennati's husband Cole and their two children, 1-year-old Sianna and 4-year-old Aila, all died as a result of their injuries.
Cole's mother spoke with ABC News 4 and said the family was visiting for Mother's Day weekend in Pennsylvania.
Her son, Cole, was in the Navy Munition Command at the Naval Weapons Station. He was a mineman who dealt with underwater mines and just received orders to be stationed in San Diego.
The driver of the Ford Explorer, identified as 46-year-old Javier A. Estrada-Beltran of Charleston, and his passengers, 35-year-old Francisco Morales-Gaspar and 34-year-old Lucia De-La-Cruz, were taken to UNC Chapel Hill with serious injuries and were reported in stable condition.
The 68-year-old driver of the Ford Escape was taken to Florence Medical Center with serious injuries and reported in stable condition.
The drivers of the Freightliner tractor trailer and the Kenworth tractor trailer were checked out by emergency services and released at the scene.
We will update this story as more information becomes available.
=================
5 victims of I-95 crash identified
LUMBERTON, North Carolina (WTVD) -- Five people, including two children, were killed and four others were seriously injured in a fiery crash involving multiple vehicles on Interstate 95 Tuesday afternoon.
The crash shut down both directions of I-95 for almost 12 hours near Exit 10 in Robeson County - which is just north of the South Carolina border.
Pictures from Chopper 11 HD showed there were at least 3 tractor-trailer trucks and 3 smaller vehicles involved.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol said the driver of a tanker truck failed to slow down for some highway construction around 1 p.m., causing a rear-end chain reaction.
Fuel in the tanker truck caught fire. The flames and spreading gasoline then ignited other vehicles. The main trailer of the tanker did not ignite.
The driver of the tanker truck, identified as 68-year-old Michael Elliott Bricker of Myrtle Beach, was killed.
The others killed were all members of a Goose Creek family in one vehicle:
Elise Ann Spennati, age 32
Cole Allen Spennati, age 25
Aila Spennati, age 4
Fianni Spennati, age 1
The flames spread across the grass of the median and shoulders and then into nearby wooded areas leaving a huge burned area visible from the air.
Troopers said late Tuesday that three of the seriously injured were flown by helicopter for treatment. Forty-six-year-old Javier A. Estrada-Beltran, 35-year-old Francisco Morales-Gaspar, and 34-year-old Lucia De-La-Cruz - all of Charleston - were in stable condition at UNC Chapel Hill.
Sixty-eight-year-old Mary Ann Payne of Kanas City, Missouri was at the Florence Medical Center in stable condition.
Two other drivers were checked out at the scene by EMS workers and not taken to the hospital.
The crash closed the highway between exits 2 and 10, forcing traffic in both directions to be detoured off the interstate.
The NC DOT said northbound lanes of I-95 were reopened just before midnight and the southbound lanes reopened about an hour later.
Interstate 95 became a road of carnage Tuesday as a wreck left 5 dead and 4 injured.
==========
A Goose Creek, SC family of four was killed and three other Charleston residents were injured Tuesday in a fiery chain-reaction collision on Interstate 95, according to the N.C. Highway Patrol.
Elise Ann Spennati, 32, Cole Allen Spennati, 25; and their daughters, Aila, 4, and Sianni, 1, died in the crash, which happened around 12:30 p.m. near Lumberton, N.C., and involved three tractor-trailers and three vehicles.
The family was on its way home from a long weekend visiting family in Pennsylvania over Mother’s Day, according to Facebook posts.
Both directions of I-95 were closed for almost 12 hours near Exit 10 in Robeson County, just north of the South Carolina border.
The crash happened when transportation workers were repainting the highway lane lines, and traffic was forced to merge to one lane, according to the Highway Patrol.
A 2013 Volvo tanker failed to slow and collided with a Dodge pick-up driven by Elise Spennati, causing a chain reaction with a Ford Explorer and Ford Escape, according to the Highway Patrol. The driver of the tanker, Michael Elliott Bricker, 68, of Myrtle Beach, also died.
The tanker ignited as it struck two tractor-trailers. Flames spread across the grass median and highway shoulders and into nearby wooded areas, according to WTVD-TV in Raleigh-Durham.
Three Charleston residents in the Explorer were injured.
Driver Javier A. Estrada-Beltran, 46, and passengers Francisco Morales-Gaspar, 35, and Lucia De-La-Cruz, 34, were all transported to UNC-Chapel Hill with serious injuries. They were reported in stable condition.
The driver of the Ford Escape was identified as Mary Ann Payne, 68, of Kansas City, Mo. She was transported to Florence Medical Center with serious injuries and reported in stable condition.
The drivers of the tractor-trailers were treated at the scene.