Deadly Crash Closes Traffic into Keys

By Gladys Amador, The Miami Herald

Apr. 23–The main link between Miami-Dade County and the Florida Keys was shut this evening after a fatal accident between a tractor trailer and a Chevrolet Impala.

Two people in the Impala died and two others were rushed to area hospitals, said Florida Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Pat Santangelo.

U.S. 1 south of Florida City was closed in both directions, Santangelo said. Traffic is being diverted onto Card Sound Road — the other link between the mainland and Key Largo.

The accident occurred around 4 p.m. near Mile Marker 116 on the 18-Mile Stretch, a two-lane highway that is infamous for its bloody crashes.

According to FHP, the Impala, traveling northbound on U.S. 1 with four people, crossed over to the southbound lane, hitting the tractor trailer head-on. A Jeep and a Honda traveling behind the truck crashed into it.

The Impala’s driver and a passenger died, said Miami-Dade Fire spokesman Lt. Eddy Ballester. The two surviving passengers, both from Illinois, were taken to Homestead Hospital.

The driver of the truck was sent to Mariners Hospital in Monroe County with non-life threatening injuries, Ballester said. The drivers of the Jeep and Honda were treated on the scene for minor injuries.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Miami Herald

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