Nine members of a family, including six children, were tragically killed in a horrific accident after their SUV overturned into a canal, with none of them wearing seatbelts.
The crash occurred Monday night in Palm Beach County, Florida, around 7:30 p.m., leaving only one survivor, Jorden Hall, 26, in critical condition in the hospital.
The victims who died in the crash have now been identified as Pamela Wiggins, 56, Leiana Alyse Hall, 30, Anyia Monique Lee Tucker, 21, Imani Hall, 8, Kamdien Edwards, 5, Yasire Smith, 5, Zaire Mack, 3, and Naleia Tucker, 1.
The police report, obtained for the first time by WPTVHe said none of the 10 victims were wearing “safety equipment” inside the vehicle. Florida law requires seat belts for all passengers and booster seats for children under the age of five.
Nine members of a family, including six children, were tragically killed in a horrific crash in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Monday.
Police said the entire family was traveling together in a pickup truck when the driver missed a curve and crashed into a guardrail, causing the vehicle to roll into a nearby canal.
Kamdien’s mother, Anntainette Edwards, said Local10 that the devastating remains are “like a bad nightmare.”
According to a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office accident report, the family was being driven by Pamela Wiggins in their 2023 Ford Explorer when the crash occurred.
As he approached a corner, Wiggins failed to turn and crashed into a guardrail. It is unclear why he lost control of the vehicle and the accident is still under investigation.
The impact flipped the SUV over and sent it flying into a nearby canal, and when first responders arrived at the scene only the vehicle’s wheels were visible.
Four family members were pronounced dead at the scene and six others were rushed to nearby hospitals.
Five of the victims died in hospital and only Hall, 26, survived the horror. He remains in a West Palm Beach hospital, where he is recovering from serious injuries.
Images from the crash site showed the guardrail was destroyed by the impact of the SUV, and crews were seen returning to the scene days later to repair the damage.
Four of the family members were declared dead at the scene and five more died in hospital as only one family member survived the tragedy.
The family members, who were from several different states, had gathered in Florida over the weekend for Wiggins’ mother’s disco-themed 80th birthday party (pictured).
Pamela Wiggins, 56 (pictured), was driving the family in the SUV when she lost control of the vehicle.
Tributes have poured in for the victims, who were from several states but gathered in Florida over the weekend to celebrate Wiggins’ mother’s 80th birthday, the outlet reported. The Miami Herald.
A picture shared on Wiggins’ Facebook page showed family members enjoying a 1970s-themed birthday party.
“I just wanted to thank all my family who traveled to Florida for my mom’s 80th birthday party,” she wrote in the post, adding that she was “so proud” of her daughters and that her “mom really enjoyed it.”
Police said Wiggins was also preparing to celebrate his 57th birthday, which would have been just a day after the crash.
Anntainette Edwards, whose five-year-old son died in the crash, said her son was excited to start kindergarten soon.
“He was happy, funny, he wasn’t afraid of anything, he was a daredevil. He was a happy baby,” she said.
The mother of victim Kamdian Edwards, 5 (pictured), said the tragedy left her feeling like she was living a “bad nightmare”.
The six children who died in the accident were between the ages of one and eight. Pictured here is the victim, Zaire Mack, aged three.
Ryanne Noel, a former co-worker of Aniya Monique Lee Tucker, said she “developed a friendship” with the victim while they both lived in Connecticut.
“She was a bright and luminous young woman, a beautiful person and a wonderful mother to her little girl. I cherished the time we spent together. We traveled together and had a good friendship,” she said. WPTV.
Noel added that Tucker was the mother of the one-year-old baby who also died in the crash.
Patricia Wiggins, daughter of Pamela and sister of Leiana, who died in the crash, said in a heartbreaking Facebook post: ‘Lord please wake me up from this nightmare.
‘Lord, I know You don’t make mistakes, but Lord, I’m having a hard time processing this.’
The family has created a GoFundMe to help pay for the mounting funeral costs and other expenses of the tragedy.