2 dead, 3 hurt after car blows a tire and plunges into canal

Two people died and three others, including two children, were injured Tuesday night after their car blew a tire and plunged into a canal off Alligator Alley, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

About 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, fire rescue crews were called about a car in the canal near Mile Marker 28 on the westbound side of Alligator Alley, about 4 miles west of the toll plaza, said Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue Chief Michael Kane.

The occupants of the car were all from North Fort Myers.

The women who died in the crash were the 47-year-old driver and a 22-year-old passenger.

The driver was taken to Cleveland Clinic in Weston and was later pronounced dead. The passenger was taken to Broward Health Medical Center and was later pronounced dead.

Three people were rescued — a 40-year-old woman, a 2-year-old boy, and a 2-year-old girl — and are being treated at Broward Health Medical Center.

Their injuries are considered serious.

The canal is as deep as 11 feet in the center, and the car was still visible from the road after the crash, Kane said.

The FHP said the driver lost control after the blowout and the car went onto a grass shoulder, then through a barbed wire fence, some small trees and bushes, and then into the canal.

Numerous strangers helped pull out those trapped in the sinking car.

“I didn’t think about it; I just did it,” truck driver Charlie Chang told WSVN-Ch. 7. “I saw the car go airborne. ... They were screaming for help, and I just jumped in.”

Officials said the car remained submerged in the canal on Wednesday morning. It’s so far under that they have been unable to determine what kind of car it is, Ch. 7 reported.

“It was going under so fast,” Chang told the TV station.

Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue, the Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol were on the scene, the station reported.

Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the crash, Kane said.