7 Kids killed in crash; Grandfather dies upon hearing news.

[illusion88]

Text
EDIT: Update

LAKE BUTLER, Florida (CNN) -- News of a crash in which seven children perished so upset their grandfather that he had a massive heart attack and died, the children's adoptive mother said.

"I lost my daddy tonight," Barbara Mann said Wednesday. "My dad died of a massive heart attack tonight over all this. He lost all seven of his grandkids ... I can't deal with this."

A tractor-trailer plowed into the children's car near Gainesville, Florida, Wednesday, slamming it into the rear of a school bus that had stopped to let children off.

The car burst into flames, killing all the children inside, said Lt. Mike Burroughs of the Florida Highway Patrol. (Full story)

They have been identified 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.

All were adopted foster children, except for Anthony, who was in the process of being adopted, Burroughs said.

Ashley and Miranda were also cousins.

At the wheel was Cynthia Mann, who had a learner's permit. Under Florida law, it is illegal for a 15-year-old to drive without an adult.

Cynthia Mann's aunt said the girl had just dropped off another child and was taking the rest of the children home "to get ready to go to church."

"It's my understanding she did not cause the accident," Tina Mann said of her niece. "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."

The accident occurred shortly after 3 p.m. four miles south of Lake Butler. At the time, all three vehicles -- the tractor-trailer, the car and the bus -- were heading north, said Lt. Bill Leeper of the Florida Highway Patrol.

The tractor-trailer left no skid marks, police told CNN Thursday. But there were marks on the road indicating the driver veered away after the initial impact, police added.

Its driver has been hospitalized and is medicated, police said, adding that they are waiting to question him about the accident. The driver had been cited for unsafe driving five years ago.

Three of the nine children aboard the bus were seriously injured and transported by helicopter to hospitals. None of the students' injuries were life-threatening, Leeper said.

A spokeswoman for Shands Hospital in Gainesville said eight patients were transported, ages 5 to 16. Two were in critical condition; three in serious condition, Betsy Miller said.

The driver of the bus was also injured, but her condition wasn't immediately known.

I wonder what caused the car to burst into flames. I also wonder how this is going to play out in the court of law, assuming the women sues or something. Cynthia was driving on a learners permit without an adult, which is illegal in the state of Flordia (illegal everywhere I think). From the sound of it, it sounds like it was the tractor-trailer's fault, beign as how he left no skid marks, and only attempted to change course at the very last minute. My guess, is he was doing something dumb, like lighting a cig, while changing the radio, while attempting to grab something from behind his seat you know, something like that. It's not like you ram the back of a car with a huge bus infront of it you know. It can't be that hard to see, it's only 15 feet tall and bright yellow.

EDIT: added an update. The cause of the accident is still unknown. The update has some interesting descriptions of the accident. Also, there is a picture of the bus.

 

[ChooChooChooseMe]

Ya I read this on another forum. Sad

 

[SaltBoy]

Holy crap - That's probably the worst thing EVAR.

 

[Ramma2]

Lots of fuel there, between the bus' fuel tank, the trucks tank, and the car/vans tank.

 

[waggy]

yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

 

[Phoenix15]

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

fvcking prick

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: Phoenix15

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

fvcking prick

yeah i forgot about the grandparent. Ohwell he was old anyway.

 

[Lola]

this is so horrible.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

Too bad you weren't between the truck and the car.

 

[moshquerade]

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

waggy, that was a rotten thing to say.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Big news here in Atlanta. Sad stuff. The driver of the destroyed SUV was 15 and un-licensed from what I've heard. Whether or not that was a factor in the accident is unknown. What is known is that a dump truck slammed into the SUV at 65 MPH without even tapping his breaks...thus pancaking the SUV between the truck and school bus. Kids on the bus were also injured.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: LolaWiz
this is so horrible.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

waggy, that was a rotten thing to say.

sure was! but comon its funny!


i consider this a succefull troll spree! wooot!

And I consider this a successful vacation spree. wooot! Enjoy a week on the house.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[Syrch]

damn

 

[TGS]

On CNN, they are reporting the driver admits to not paying attention.


-- Hmm, a bus with it's stop sign out and flashing lights. *Did I just drop a quarter*


Do we know need klaxons on buses when they are letting children off? This is pretty ridiculous.

 

[cKGunslinger]

Originally posted by: waggy

Originally posted by: moshquerade

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

waggy, that was a rotten thing to say.

sure was! but comon its funny!


i consider this a succefull troll spree! wooot!

 

[zoiks]

Very sad story. Must be very hard for the family or whats left of it.

 

[DeadByDawn]

Originally posted by: waggy
yeah read about this already. Sad story.

but hey its not like they can't adopt more!

Show some class asshole. Kids were burned to death.

 

[speg]

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
Kids were burned to death.

You can't say that yet.

 

[waggy]

Originally posted by: TGS
On CNN, they are reporting the driver admits to not paying attention.


-- Hmm, a bus with it's stop sign out and flashing lights. *Did I just drop a quarter*


Do we know need klaxons on buses when they are letting children off? This is pretty ridiculous.

ok ok trolling aside how could he NOT see the bus?

 

[TitanDiddly]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Big news here in Atlanta. Sad stuff. The driver of the destroyed SUV was 15 and un-licensed from what I've heard. Whether or not that was a factor in the accident is unknown. What is known is that a dump truck slammed into the SUV at 65 MPH without even tapping his breaks...thus pancaking the SUV between the truck and school bus. Kids on the bus were also injured.

The article above says it wasn't.

 

[Safeway]

 

[LeiZaK]

That must suck.

I've been slacking lately on posting all the really awful terrible news.

 

[CKent]

Feed 'em and they only grow, folks.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: speg

Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
Kids were burned to death.

You can't say that yet.

Hopefully they died upon impact from trauma, and were not burned to death...a more peaceful and less painful way to go. My heart broke when I heard about this last night.