2 Florida women dead, 2 toddlers saved after an SUV plunges into Alligator Alley canal
A blown tire transformed a drive home across Interstate 75 into a tragic plunge into an Alligator Alley canal Tuesday afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol said.
The 47-year-old woman driving and one of her passengers, a 22-year-old woman, were killed. Good Samaritans saved a 40-year-old woman and two 2-year-olds, a boy and a girl. They were treated on the scene for non-life threatening injuries, BSO Fire Rescue Battalion Chief Michael Kane said.
All five were from the North Fort Myers area.
FHP said once the SUV’s left rear tire blew around mile marker 29 on westbound I-75, the SUV went across the outside grass shoulder, through a barbed wire fence, trees and bushes and into the canal. As the SUV became submerged, people stopped to help.
“If that was me, I’d hope someone would jump in, too, to save someone’s life,” truck driver Charlie Chang told WSVN after helping pull out the surviving woman and children.
There was a delay in rescuing the other two adults. FHP said the driver was taken to Cleveland Clinic and the passenger was taken to Broward Health Medical Center. Both were in cardiac arrest and died.
This story was originally published December 14, 2021 at 9:04 PM.
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