A fiery car crash on a rain-slicked highway killed 10 people, including nine children, Saturday afternoon in southern Alabama, where more than a dozen vehicles were wrecked during one of the first storms of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season.
Officials described the crash as one of the worst ever in Butler County, a rural area about 60 miles south of Montgomery with years of experience in battling inclement weather.
Nine people, including eight children between the ages of 4 and 17, were inside, heading home from a beach vacation. The children, who have not been identified, were killed when the van collided with another car and burst into flames, Garlock said. A bystander pulled the driver from the van and she survived.
The accident happened on I-65 northbound at mile marker 138 on Saturday afternoon during storms that swept through the state, according to Garlock. A tropical depression that had been known as Tropical Storm Claudette dumped heavy rain across the Southeast on Saturday after it came ashore in southeastern Louisiana early that morning. 219
Ashkan Salehian
